Augusta Per Angusta
by Scootaloo23
Summary: Follow the president of a totally new school, Felicita of Sabaton High; A girl with more then a few secrets, Yuki, and their teammates as their school comes into tankery, and they're drawn into things they could never have conceived. They'll face challenges both on and off the battlefield, while making plenty of friends and foes alike. Now with more tanks shooting at tanks!
1. Chapter I

**Fore-Foreword: This story is not one for those lacking in patience.**

**Large and Egotistic foreword has been deleted.**

**The story is co authored. Fellow authors Roguespirit, HaikuFox, and Wellington99 have contributed to this project, and though their contributions vary, there is no doubt that this couldn't have been done without them. In addition to giving me people to bounce ideas and suggestions off of, their presence really motivates me and helps keep me going. Thank you guys for staying with me through this!**

**So without further ado, I present to you Agusta per Angusta, 2 years in the making and counting!**

**{Felicita}**

I awake at my usual time of 0500 hours, sharp, alerted by the alarm sitting upon my bedside table. I fold my blanket to the side to allow clear access from my bed, folding it back into place as soon as I exit to make sure it stays neat and tidy. My apartment consists of one room with two bunk beds, adjacent to a miniature kitchen which also houses our entertainment system, a television. I do not use it, that is the pleasure of my two roommates. Speaking of which I remove my earplugs, a little tool I use to overcome the unbearable snoring of my roommate in the lower bunk directly across from me.

I make my way to the miniature refrigerator, opening it and obtaining a pre made breakfast, two sausage biscuits and assorted vegetables. I put it in the microwave oven for the recommended time, during which I am able to hurry back to our bedroom and don my clothes I will be wearing for the day, and brush my teeth.

Coming back to the microwave I find it has 21 seconds left till the food has completed it's warming cycle. A nine second improvement over the previous time. I do not congratulate myself however, that would be vain. A real professional strives to succeed in everything, even trivial morning time saving endeavours. After all, if you don't work your hardest at everything, how can you discover how hard you can work?

The microwave ceases heating the food and I remove it, sitting down at the small three seat table in the corner of the miniature kitchen and going to work upon eating my breakfast. As I stake my second bite of the second biscuit I hear the sounds of one of my roommates trying to wake the other. This usually happens around this time typically, as one of them is a heavy sleeper and the other more attuned to my type of waking.

As I finish off the vegetable portion of the meal I turn around to see my two roommates enter the kitchen. One is a fairly slim girl with dyed baby blue hair in a short ponytail down to her shoulders, crimson eyes with circular glasses over them, and a baby like face, standing at 155 centimeters tall. Her name is Illaria Nakahara, and she holds the arm of her friend and my other roommate as they enter.

My other roommate is a 165 centimeter tall amazon of a girl, with much more bulk courtesy of both more fat and muscles upon her body. Her hair is white, and done up in a most gaudy and unsightly set of white spikes, none of it falling below her ears. Her eyes are cobalt green and her skin is tanned from her excess time in the sun. Her name is Eleonore Fujiaka.

"Oh hey Felicita, glad to see you're up." Illaria greets me as Eleonore sits down and rests her head upon the table, not fully awake yet. Mannerless slob. A poor natural morning performance is no excuse for such a poor display! I ignore her and focus on returning Illaria's pleasantry.

"Good morning to you too Illaria." I say to her. She heads to the mini fridge and pulls out seven eggs, cracking them and pouring them into a bowl to scramble. I would ask her to cook for me regularly if she wasn't so irregular with her waking, the times she's been up before me and I have sampled her breakfasts they were actually quite nice.

Ele mumbled something into the table and I cringe slightly at her further rudeness. I sometimes shudder at the thought of what household she was raised in that taught her such behaviors were acceptable. It seems to be some sort of 'good morning' greeting though and I assume that was her intent and so give her a response to prevent her from disgracing herself further.

"Yes, it's nice to see you this morning too Eleonore." I say to her.

Illaria seems to pick up on my exasperation and sighs, placing a hand on my shoulder. I normally do not allow physical contact but Illaria has earned my trust, and she is a very kindhearted girl after all.

"Look I know Ele is sometimes a bit obnoxious in the mornings but try not to be annoyed with her," She pleads me. "We can't all be perfect all the time Feli, so try to show some acceptance when she's at her lows."

"I would have an easier time of it if there was any indication she was trying to do better than," I gesture to the slumped over amazon, "This."

Illaria shakes her head, "Feli, you know as well as I she stays up extra late to get in more exercise. It helps her do better at the things she loves but….it also means she's a morning wreck, more than usual. Sometimes the things you love can cause you issues. But if you really love doing them you get over that stuff, and if you're someones friend you're supposed to help them with those things."

"I hardly think loving success has caused me any issues," I retort.

Illaria bites her lip, "I wouldn't say that."

I narrow my eyes at her. Was she accusing me of something? "Illaria? Are you trying to say something subversive."

She rolls her eyes at me, "Always so paranoid Felicita. No I wasn't."

"Then what were you saying?" I peer at her with my best piercing gaze. She seems to shift at first, her natural meekness showing but she doesn't fold.

"Nothing. Please just drop it." She says. By now her eggs are ready and she serves up a heaping pile, probably the content of five or six of the eggs, onto Eleonore's plate and saves one or two eggs worth for herself. At this point I realize I have spent sixteen minutes dealing with unproductive conversation, and I hurry to my room to finish grooming. I comb every inch of my hair till it is smooth and presentable, then I smooth out my uniform like a true professional.

I head out the door and head straight for my office, located inside the bridge main superstructure of our schoolship. Mine is near the top, directly below the command bridge from which the Naval students control the ship- that is, they would be if it was moving at all. As it stands our ship is immobile, moored to it's dock perpetually. The access door from deck level to the superstructure has rust red streaked across the hinges and it takes quite a bit of force to get it open and closed, so I don't bother closing it behind me.

My office is the largest and is shared with the rest of the student council, about four by five meters area wise. Most of the light inside comes from the window, which is not very tall and surrounded by a thick steel frame. The lightbulbs are dim and yellow, since we have to use low power bulbs due to the outdated electrical systems onboard the ship.

The room itself is coated in a carpet of faded burnt Sienna, and my desk sits upon the back wall, under the sole window. In the center and off to the right is a table large enough to seat six tightly, used for meetings and such business. Both are made of Swedish pine wood, which has darkened from age and use.

I sit down at my desk and begin to sort through the various papers, all of which have a brownish tint. Our school hasn't bought paper since 1985 and it shows. Thankfully our ancestors had the foresight to buy far more paper than they could ever use, and we have since been using incredibly shoddy paper from the 80s.

I look up from the musty smelling paper and see that two young women have entered the room. They are my fellow council members. My secretary Yoko Hayabusa, and my Vice President Miyuki Kobayashi.

Yoko is a girl who has a tall and thin figure, due in no small part to her role on the gymnastics team, making her remarkably limber and lithe. Her black hair is done up, as always, in a ponytail reaching halfway down her back, and her almond eyes are lively and warm.

In contrasts to her, my Vice President Miyuki bore eyes much like my own, though hers were a dark brown. Covered with red glasses they analyze and understand everything, and her face is sharp and angular like her wits. Her hair is a bowl cut with hairpins keeping the bangs in check, and though she was shorter than Yoko by two centimeters at least, her strong and authoritative demeanor made her seem to be the larger one in the room.

"Good morning Madame President," The greet, Yoko wearing a broad smile so signature of her. They take their seats at the meeting table and I move from my desk to the head of the table to begin our discussion.

"Good morning ladies," I greet them in return, Let's not waste any time with small talk. How goes the tankery recruitment effort?"

They sigh in unison and already I can tell the news will not be very good. Even with their contrast the way they operated in sync and seemed to understand how the other was thinking impressed me. Several times I had to validate they weren't in fact related, a popular rumor among the student body.

"Nobody seems interested," Miyuki replies in her usual, direct manner, "Everyone thinks i is just more work that takes away from what we are already doing."

"People haven't gotten used to you being in charge," Yoko adds, "They're still operating with the same concepts and habits as under the previous regime."

"Did you try telling them their school might not survive if we don't expand our programs?" I ask exasperated and more than a bit miffed, "Nothing is set in stone for certain, but with all the downsizing going on we need to excel and offer as much to prospective students as we can!"

Miyuki scratches the side of her head, "The problem is that a lot of the current students just don't care. The third years are graduating, the second and first years spent so much time under the last regime they just don't care anymore, and the Naval Studies students are spending most of their time keeping the ship afloat, they don't have time for much else."

Yoko interjects with her two cents, "You've done a lot to help put this school back on its feet madame president, but we're still dealing with all the damage they did, not all of which can be found in books or records. We're dealing with people, almost all of whom were hurt or affected in some way by it."

Miyuki nods in agreement, "So our best chance is to recruit from the incoming first years who will be starting soon. They should add some life to this zombie of a student bod, and hopefully get people to start caring again."

I rest my hand on the side of my head, "Well then, did you try to make the incoming freshmen aware of this program?"

We have flyers prepared," Yoko informs me, "But we also think it could help to have one of the machines at the booth, to add that extra flair. Could help with recruitment."

Ah yes, the Freshman Welcome Concert. Every year we throw a big metal concert for the incoming freshmen, which doubles as an expo for all of the electives and extracurricular programs.

"It would certainly help us stand out," Miyuki agrees, "Also, there are a few Naval studies girls willing to join if I can secure them the free time, but I can't guarantee that."

"Well of course it is only right that the schools hardest workers be represented," I remark, "Keep me informed. When do you plan on setting up the booth, so I can give the repair crew a deadline for at least one of the vehicles to be ready?"

"Well it has to be up before the end of the entrance ceremony but we're not allowed to put it up before then because of how crowded that always gets when the new students come in." Miyuki says. "So thinking about it that way...we should probably have one ready the day before at least. So a week?"

I nod, archiving the information for when I next meet with the tank repair crew. We will get this program started yet! However, with such discussion now effectively done, I immediate switch the conversation topic to the next order of business.

"I'll be sure to convey the information to the repair crew. Now we should also discuss provisions for the food courts while we are here, and how we shall best lay them out to ensure minimal power usage but showcase the best of our Swede-Japanese culinary classes."

* * *

><p>My next order of business of the day is to do a scheduled check up with the repair team, charged with repairing the various tanks we had accumulated. Two were found on the ship itself, while the other four were purchased at a discount for various reasons relating to their condition. Coming up to the hangars the first vehicle I can see is our Strv 74, one of the two tanks we were able to find upon our ship. From what I am told though it was first constructed in the fifties it is allowed in Sensha Do due to it's hull and main cannon being of World War Two vintage.<p>

The vehicle itself is carried upon six torsion bar suspension roadwheels, the hull a little bit narrow and gently sloping towards the back. The turret is huge and shaped like an angular teardrop, as tall as the hull, mounting a 75mm cannon as long as the turret itself and with a bore evacuator.

The hangars themselves are little more than sheet metal half cylinders that provide protection from rain, and wind when it isn't coming in one of their open ends. They serve their purpose though.

Upon the engine deck is a young man exploring the insides via the panels on the deck, dressed in a blue and yellow overalls. He had dark tan skin and dark brown hair, with almond colored eyes to boot. His hair went all the way down to his shoulders too, and his head looked about 5% bigger than an average boy of his age.

Below him was another young man in the same outfit, though he didn't wear his all the way up, letting his white T-shirt with a vinyl record show. His hair was short and blonde and adorned with sunglasses, and he sat in a chair with a most unprofessional slouch, casually handing up tools to the other young man as was requested.

I approach them and turn my attention up to the one on the vehicle. "Noah, give me a report. What have you found so far?"

The brunette looked up at me, setting his wrench down, "Well obviously, I opened up the engine and found a basket of rainbow barking kittens, which leapt out and magically fixed up everything. Congratulations, you have one Swedemobile ready to go."

I leer at him, irked by his unneeded and unhelpful sarcasm. He dripped with it all the time and it made getting clear cut communication from him a painful task. "Cut the crap. Will it run or not."

He rolls his eyes at me. "Sorry Princess, but the transmission is busted. There's a reason they mothballed this bugger."

"Yep," The kid handing tools up to him agreed, "More busted than when you caught him embezzling club money."

"I spent two dollars on cookies for my girl," Noah protested, "Two measly dollars!"

I let out a sigh. "Well is there any good news?"

A young fellow with blue eyes and messy light brown hair popped out of the commanders hatch. "There is indeed. The optics are in great shape, and the cannon looks like it still fires."

That was good news indeed. After all, what was a tank without it's offensive power? "Thanks Emmett. How does the radio look?"

"Haven't gotten to it Ma'am!" He replied, "Next thing I'm looking at are the motors on the turret traverse."

"What about the other vehicles?" I inquire.

"Well both Panzer IIs are in decent shape save for the tracks, we're gonna need new sets for them," He explains to me.

"And what about the 14TP?"

"We might need to do a restoration on the suspension and it's missing some engine panels."

"The Semovente?"

"Haven't gotten to it yet, but it looks like it was in the throw away piled for a reason."

I nod, archiving the information in my mind. "Well then it sounds as though you have a lot of work to see too. I'll leave you to it." I turn around to begin heading away from the hangar.

"There's one more thing you should know about!" He calls after me.

I turn around to face him expectantly. He informs me that they found an old rival of mine attempting to vandalize the transmission they removed from the vehicle.

"Isn't it broken?" I tilt my head.

"Yeah but I guess that you usurped them for a reason," Emmett ran a hand through his hair, "I don't like calling names but I gotta be honest, she's kind of an airhead."

"So much air in her head you could fly a bomber though it," Noah quipped.

"Where is she?" I ask.

"We tied her up in the back, she's still there." Noah replied.

My jaw drops slightly, perhaps a half centimeter. "Your sarcastic humor escapes me."

"Uh, he wasn't being funny," Emmett says nervously, "We literally have her tied up with the spare parts."

I am totally aghast at their barbarism, even Eleonore would be shocked by such levels of awful unrefined filth! Such was the reason I never took an interest in men, at this age they were nothing more than Juvenile apes, in need of a few years before they were worth something. I redact my statement however upon realizing this was possibly the most secure way to make sure the subject was still here for questioning by myself. As barbaric as the method was it was entirely effective.

I head to the back and there she is, wrapped in duct tape and on the floor between two boxes of engine components. She appears to be a senior like myself from an initial glance, though looks were often deceiving in that regard. I knelt down beside her and pulled the tape from her mouth, eliciting a shriek from her due to the pain.

"Yeeoooooow!" She cries, "Don't be so harsh….." She looks down and blushes, "I have peach fuzz…."

"Peach fuzz?" I ask.

"Ya know….the little white hairs on your face some people get?" She sighs, "Mostly guys get it but I ended up with it anyways."

I pause for a moment. Certainly this was not what I expected the conversation to start out at. "Don't change the subject. We are here to discuss your vandalism of tankery team property."

She looks at me cluelessly. "I was told all they stuff in the garage was junk and they needed help breaking it apart."

_Then it's quite fitting you picked one of the few things that actually was junk_, I think to myself.

"Well, I can still report you for vandalism, as what you destroyed was actually valuable school property." I informed her sternly. Her eyes began to well up with tears and soon she was bawling.

"Waaaaaaah! I don't want to go to detention! Please, blame the girl that told me to!"

I put a hand on my hip, "Well perhaps I will if you can describe her, I'll be able to persecute her properly and not have to turn my attentions upon you."

Her sobs abated after a while and her breathing calms down. "I….I can't remember a lot….she...she had auburn hair...a-and pale skin. She was...a little taller than me….a-and I think she wore a black jacket!"

"You _think_ she wore a black jacket or do you know?" I press her.

"I'm mostly sure! Look I wasn't paying that much attention! I could recognize her if I saw her though!"

"Clearly," I remark. This girl was obviously not of an intellectual type, and didn't have a remarkable memory either, so the chances of me obtaining usable information from her were negligible.

"Alright. How about if I let you go and don't tell about your vandalism, you won't report our repair team for their barbaric conduct?" I offer her.

"Oh that would be wonderful!" She replies, happy it seems to have any offer at all made towards releasing her from her bindings. I go to undo her bindings, but she protests.

"If you pull it off like this it'll hurt!" She whines, "Can you like, carry me to my dorm? And put me in the tub so the water will help it go off?"

Was she serious? She wanted me to carry her all the way to her dorm and set her up in a tub just because she couldn't handle a little pain? I go ahead and release her restraints anyways and she yelps and squeals as the tape is pulled off her, bolting off at maximum velocity as soon as she's done being freed.

"Wait!" I call out, holding her schoolbag, "You forgot your school supply container!"

By this time she is long gone, and I check the backpack for an ID so I may return it. I find it, and make a note to head by the lost and found before the end of the day. As I put the ID back however I notice that there is an oddly large stack of cash inside there as well.

Pulling it out, the bundle strikes me as strange for several reasons, For one, they are all ten thousand yen bills, which is a rather large bill to bring to school, considering even the most expensive of cakes at bake sales usually barely top four thousand yen. This amount of money might be justifiable if an event was going on, and a nice dress and other fineries were required, but as of now it made little sense, unless they planned on buying serious regalia for the Freshman Welcome Concert. Secondly, the quantity strikes me as odd. Not a lot of rich people go to our school, I am one of the handful of exceptions with my high class background, but even then I do not carry thousands of yen on me like this.

The most immediate thing that comes to mind was that the girl was bribed into the deed, which would either indicate she knew about the true nature of the act and was only playing innocent, or she was so unwilling to work with tools and machinery that some grease was needed to get her rolling.

I debate on what to do. I could keep it as evidence, true, but that would make me in the wrong if it was to turn out this wasn't bribe money and the girl simply had a large purchase to be had. I put the money back, but first use my cell phone to take some pictures and record the amount involved, for later reference. I mount the bag on my shoulder and head out of the garage.

On my way out I see that Eleonore and Illaria are here, and Eleonore has Emmett in what appears to be some sort of gentle headlock. He looks extremely flustered and nervous, but it is not my business to assist him so I move on, off to the next order of business.

* * *

><p>Five days later I'm in my office at my desk, going going through records to try and discover the origin of the unusually large sum of possible bribe money I found on the girl. The first place I start is with the serial numbers of the cash. The bills were firm and crisp, meaning that they hadn't been in circulation and were most likely obtained directly from a bank or the government. Additionally, as I look through the pictures of the first and last bills, the numbers seem to indicate they were in fact in sequential order of numbers.<p>

Across my desk from me is my treasurer Atsuko Kurkawa. Her uniform is a measure less trimmed then mine, and shows more signs of wear, since her personal clothes are of much lesser quality she nearly always wears her uniform. Her dark beige hair is semi curly, some of it covering her forehead over her wheat colored eyes. She has been a vital asset to helping get the school back on it's feet, as wherever money is involved, she makes it go a lot further.

"Madame President, I got the bills dated to within a year," She says, looking up from the rather archaic laptop. She uses, an older model from about five years ago, and even a bottom end model in its time. "They definitely have been around a while, they're from 1993. Meaning they couldn't have been in circulation, or else they wouldn't be this nice. So perhaps they were pulled from storage or a bank."

I put my hand on my chin in thought, "Perhaps. But I doubt any of the schools active banks would still have this old of money in them, at least uncirculated."

"Don't forget that your enemies used to hide their dirty money deep in the catacombs of the ship," Atsuko points out, "Perhaps someone found a cache of it and didn't realize it's true nature."

Upon being reminded of those old fiends a troubling thought enters my head, "Or they knew exactly what it was and they're up to their old deceit and misconduct again."

"Trying to take advantage of the incoming freshman?" She asks, though it's more of a guess than a real question.

I nod affirmatively at her, "Yes, they are trying to take the very thing from us that we need to foster and grow. Let's not give them a second of rest. Can you bring up the financial records from nineteen ninety three?"

"I already have their location in the archives pinned," She replies, "All we have to do is head down there." She knows I am not one to waste time and is already putting her laptop in her somewhat tattered old bag.

"We shall head there at once," I state, and once she is ready to go we egress the office and head down to the archives.

* * *

><p>The archives of the ship are located below decks, above the machinery decks but below the first three interior decks that are primarily for uses such as shops, entertainment centers, and sustainability functions such as crop growing and water filtration. Those decks, while slightly rusty in some places are still well lit and subject to regular atmospheric controls. The archive decks are in much less stellar shape, with only some areas being linked to the climate control and nearly all of them being dimly lit and rusted all over. Thankfully most of the rust is surface and the valiant efforts of the Naval studies girls have prevented it from becoming deeper, more damaging rust.<p>

We make our way down half a dozen to the archive room, the door takes a good bit of a struggle to open like most on this deck. The creaks and groans echoes are stifled by the sheer content of the next room, which is over fifty meters wide, seventy long and at last four decks high, filled with rows and rows of shelves, all packed with paper records. Our school didn't convert to electronic record until 2008, and even then we keep paper backups of everything.

Atsuko guides me through the archives into the financial block, where she ascends a ladders in to a catwalk and up another ladder to reach the third level of shelves, and heads down about five meters to the left and stops, beginning to pull dust laden files from the shelves. Her bag is filled to the point that the zipper won't close once she is done and she turns to me and hands me four thick files.

"My bag won't fit them, and I can't risk breaking it. It's the only one I have." She explains, "Even after this we'll likely have to come back down here to get the whole years records."

I take the files and slip them into my satchel, "Not a problem Atsuko. Let's get back and start seeing if we can't hunt down this fallacious currency down."

Sure enough, about a week of looking through later, we have a decent lead on our culprits

"Right here," Atsuko says, pointing to a stack of transaction papers that when on the desk were leve, "No bank at the school seems to have records of receiving these transactions. None of them are that big, a hundred thousand yen at most, but added up, I estimate it might be as many as trillions of yen."

I raise my eyebrows at such a figure, "What could they possibly want with trillions of yen? Where would they even get such money?"

"Looks like they pulled a little here, a little there. Lots it from funds that were supposed to go into all sorts of things. Stadium renovations, extracurricular program funds, buying new paper…"

"And they did that until they had all that money, likely in cooperation with the financial administrators too. Now how do you propose we track this down?"

I tap my fingers together, "Good question." I respond, It was a bit of a difficult pitch, and it took some thinking, but I didn't become president for my good looks. An idea clicks in my head.

"There are only so many temperature controlled storage units in this ship, the vast majority aren't. Among them there are only so many still connected to the power grid, and even fewer that wouldn't have the location of their keys unknown. With those search parameters in place I am sure only a handful of rooms to search will come up."

Atsuko nods and gets up, "Alright Madame President. While I am happy to have served you, I have to go attend my job. Unlike you, I have to pay for my food."

I nod understandingly at her. As I was aware she and her family were in extreme poverty and she worked a five hour work day to help them pay bills and pay for her own food and clothes. It was a testament to how determined to make a way for herself in life she was that she could do that, school, and serve her tenure as treasurer. She was of my caliber if not higher.

"Very well, I shall not keep you. Take care and work well."

She waves at me as she heads out the door, "Seeya!"

I sit back at my desk and pull up a search query for the ship layout files. It was time to find a cockroach nest.


	2. Chapter II

**{Eleonore}**

I shift a little in my bed as the light streams into my eyes and the cool air passes over my almost bare skin. Damnit, it was morning. No doubt Illaria had removed my covers to help me out of bed, as when I flail my arm around to pull them back over all I grab is bedsheet. And my gym shorts. And my sheet music booklet. And a what is more than likely one of my indecent magazines. But no goddamned bedsheets.

"Nore-chan," A familiar voice sings to me, "It's time to get up."

I go off with a bunch of mumbled curses, not any of which I really mean towards Lari-chan. She's just trying to help me with my problem, my problem with mornings. I am simply not a natural morning person, and I always make sure to get in a little extra drum practice before everyone goes to bed (Read: I bash those motherfuckers until everyone is begging me to let them sleep), so my arms hurt like sons-of-bitches in the morning.

"Nore-chan, pleeeeeease," She begs me in her sweetest tone she can. I want to get up and stop eating up her morning time, but my body is stubborn and refuses to move.

"Fine. I have no other choice," She says, and I feel a pair of headphones slip around my ears and before I can react Sabaton is blasting full volume in my ears. Hell fucking yes. My hands and feet know the drumline to this song by heart. It's Gott mit Uns, and my slow morning heart begins to thumping faster to the beat.

By the time the song ends I am singing, no, roaring, along to the song and pounding my foot to the drums, and as I open my eyes I am up and out of my bed with Lari-chan standing in front of my with a happy grin.

"Good morning Ele." She greets pleasantly.

"You sure as hell know how to make a morning good. Alchemizing shit into gold right there." I give her a big thumbs up. She is already dressed in a bluish white button up blouse and a cream colored smooth skirt down to her knees. I'm standing there all up in a sports bra and boxers, both white.

"You always have the most interesting way of saying things," she remarks, then adds coyly, "If not a bit vulgar."

I shrug casually, "Words are just words, who gives a fuck if someone gets bootyhurt about half dozen words they don't like?"

She sighs and shakes her head at me, "Maybe one day you'll understand Ele. Or maybe you won't."

I head to my drawers and begin to get out my clothes for the day: An AC/DC T-shirt and red cargo shorts are my covering of choice, and I get out a set of fresh boxers and bra as well. I sit down on the bed and set my clothes down, Lari-chan sitting next to me. She reached behind my back and I feel my bra unclasp, releasing my C-cups from their hold.

I hand her the fresh one and I hold it in place while she fastens it. We've done this ever since I hit puberty and gained these girls. My hands are utterly huge, coupled with my muscles making me less flexible than I should be. Don't believe for a second though I couldn't do it on my own, but it's a kindness from Illaria I am plenty grateful for.

She pats my back to let me know it's secure and gets up to go make food, leaving me to finish getting dressed. Once my clothes are on I toss on my white tennis shoes and head to the bathroom to do up my hair. I take out a large jug of gel, which is about half empty and go to work getting it into my hair, which is dyed white from it's original highly pale blonde, and goes down to my ears.

Once the gel is molded into my hair I form it into several swept back spikes, each about as thick as one of my fingers and half the length. At the end of it I look like either a rocker or a character from Dragon Ball Z. I wash my hands and head into the baby kitchen we and the prez share, but for some odd reason the iron lady with a tire iron up her ass isn't here, but at least Lari is making toaster waffles and eggs.

"Hey where is Grumpy McAuthorityComplex?" I ask her.

"Todays the first day of tankery so she left early to oversee it," Illaria said, "You know….you don't have to be so harsh on her…she's already too hard on herself."

"I know I know, but somebody needs to tell her how it is," I reply, "She never lives for herself and that just does things to a girl you know? It rots your soul, it rusts your soul until all there is in your heart a hole that stares back up at you."

Illaria raises a brow behind one of her oval, frameless glasses. "That was a rather poetic way of putting that Ele."

"Thanks. I think they'd make good song lyrics, don't you?"

She giggled coyly, "I don't really know, I'm good at writing adventures but I never was able to grasp poetry or songs. Speaking of which Lore-chan, I wanted to tell you something."

I raise a brow and lean in a little closer to her, "Go ahead, you can tell me anything."

"Oh no, it's nothing confidential," She tells me, "Just...I was thinking about my electives this year...and maybe…" She gulps visibly, "Well I know you're a strong woman and do lots of strong women things….so I was thinking about going into tankery...if maybe you were joining up."

"Lari Chan, look," I look into her eyes and put a hand on her shoulder, to reassure her. She seemed more than a bit nervous, "I'm glad you want to take tankery and all, but don't do it based on whether I go, do what you want, okay? Don't feel like just because I'm taking tankery you have to. And if you want to and I'm not, go right the fuck ahead, get out there and kick ass!"

She smiles her softest of happy smiles and places a hand on my shoulder, "Thanks for the support Ele. I still don't understand how you can be so confident about everything you do. Don't you ever worry about failing or being wrong?"

I laugh and shrug, "Nah not really. Thinking about that stuff clutters my brain, makes it hard to focus on what matters. Being awesome and doing awesome stuff."

She puts a hand on her chin for a second before seeming to accept my (fucking awesome and totally correct) answer. "Alright Ele, I guess that works. So if you don't mind telling me, are you planning on taking tankery?"

"Hell yeah, I already signed up. There's still a bunch of open slots too, so I bet we can get you in, even as last second as now. If ya wanna."

Illaria look at her feet, "I don't know….I heard it's dangerous and hard work."

"Dangerous?" I scoff, "Bah, that's just propaganda they tell us so guys won't drive tanks. Really, it's actually safer than driving a car!"

She blinks, "It really is? Well it is true thousands die on motorways every year but…"

"Exactly! If thousands of people die on the road every year, and you aren't among them, then what's the chances of you dying in a tank. Like, one or two people die every five years!"

She sets five eggs and four toaster waffles on my plates and I place the eggs between the waffles and pour half the syrup bottle on them. I begin to dig in hungrily, eating two forkfuls per bite of the delicious mixture.

"R-really?" She asks, "So it's safe then? Well I also heard it's really sweaty and smells bad in them."

I finish off my current bite to respond, "Nonsense! Nothing bad about the smell of oil! And sweating is totally okay, I sweat lots and lots every day and look how healthy I am!" I say, scarfing down half a waffle with eggs on top in one go immediately after.

"Well my health wasn't really what i was getting at but I guess you're right," Illaria sighs, "And uh….there's one more thing."

It takes all my strength I have in my esophagus to pull down the huge bite of food I have into my stomach, and it feels immensely satisfying to feel it land in my tummy.

"And what is that?"

She bites her lip, "Well...you see….our repair team….is made of," She gulps, "Boys..."

What? What was she getting on about? Did she not like boys? Or maybe she was just nervous about meeting them?

"Hey look, I know boys might make you a bit nervous but they don't bite," I pat her on the back, "Besides, you really need a boyfriend."

"Elllleeeee, no I don't," She whines. I put my hands on my hips and look at her seriously.

"Illaria is there something you need to tell me? Cause if you like girls I'll still let you be my bridesmaid, but you gotta communicate these things."

She turns as deep crimson as her eyes and shakes her head, her ponytail swishing back and forth. "No no no Ele, I'm not yuri. I just...it's not about the boys themselves, it's the idea they'll be touching our tanks….I think it sounds a little weird being in a tank touched by a boy."

I roll my eyes at her. "Look, there is nothing wrong with boy hands Illaria. It's not like they're molesting the tank or anything, sliding the shell in and out of the breech grunting and chuckling evilly. That only happens in hentai."

Illaria buries her face in her hands, "Eeeeelllleee, now you gave me that mental image! You're gross!"

Thinking about it, I guess that was a bit much, especially for a girl like Illaria who still thought sex and stuff was something you didn't talk about.

"I'm sorry Illaria, sometimes I get carried away." I apologize. She looks up at me with a deep red face, pouting severely.

"Alright Ele, but promise not to say anything dirty like that in front of the guys? They might get the wrong idea."

I put on my most confident grin yet, "Illaria please, I am the expert on boys remember? I grew up around them and know all about them."

"Yes, but I hear that they try to do naughty things with you if-"

"Illaria, you think I'd let a boy do something to me that I didn't want? Hell no, I am tough and awesome and tough and awesome girls don't let guys roll over them." I put a hand on my chin, "That's not to say I wouldn't let him take the lead if he knew what he was doing…"

"Ele, please not again," She pleads.

"Alright, alright, I'm just saying," I say, digging back into my meal to finish it off, letting out a hearty belch as the last of it gets in my belly.

"Lore-chan, that was rude," Illaria pouts.

"I find it to be a satisfying expelling of victory," I counter, then add, "But I'll try not to do it too much in public." I didn't always agree with what Illaria had to say about my behavior, but I really was glad she actually cared about such things as how people saw me or how mannerly I was being, even if I did not.

"Thanks Ele. You know one day you oughta grow your hair out, we've never been able to do each others hair cause you keep it so short," She says, walking around behind me as I stand up and tugging one of my spikes.

"Yeah well," I sigh, "You can always do up my spikes for me, that's just like doing my hair."

"Yeah but I wanna have something else besides your normal hair to give you. Like a pretty bun, or maybe some short little braids." She replies.

I think about the offer for a bit. Sure looking like a badass rocker was nice but….who knows, maybe I'd look good in a braid...or a bun...or maybe one of those braid buns.

"Well I don't wanna grow my hair out too much. Maybe after tankery season is over. I hear short hair is a lot safer." I reply.

Illaria holds her ponytail, "Is my hair too long?"

I shake my head, "Not one little bit. Besides, being tied up makes it a lot safer."

She smiles and reached out to hold my hand, "Then lets go. Wouldn't wanna miss signing up for tankery."

I wrap my massive man hand around her tiny ballerina hand and tug her along, "Yeah, let's do that."

* * *

><p>It's a bit of a long walk to the hangars, not a problem for me, but Illaria always struggled in gymnastics and we actually have to stop when we're almost there for her to take a breather. We end up coming in behind everyone else, but we're still not too late to get a last second application. Of course at most schools at this point the roster would be full, but the lackluster turnout for tankery volunteers we were able to get away with such lateness.<p>

Coming to the garages, we could now see the full assortment of awesome vehicles we were going to have the pleasure of driving. Two of them look alike, and have itty bitty guns to go with their itty bitty size. Another has big wheels on it and a square hull with an angled front, and of course there is a big bobblehead like tank that we saw earlier.

The vehicle closest to us catches my eye more than any of the others. It is small and boxy, and has no turret on top, but has a nice looking big gun mounted on the hull instead. It's suspension is a bunch of small wheels on what look a little bit like really thick, metal coat hangers. But that's not what catches my eyes.

The paint scheme can only be described as something to make my eyes melt out. Like you know when the Nazis in Indiana Jones open the box and their eyes and faces melt off when they see what's inside? Yeah Illaria showed me that movie, and I loved it, and now I know how those guys opening the box felt when their eyes melted and fell out of their sockets.. It is a combination of loud, obnoxious yellows, pinks, purples and greens, combined with a pattern of zig zagged stripes that covered the whole thing, and they never broke pattern too making the whole thing look like a continuous pile of eye burning neon zig zags.

My only hope for a melting free face is to look away, and this draws my vision to the crew standing near it. I suppose some conversation might divert my attention from the vehicle so I head over to them and greet them with a hi five at the ready.

"Yo what's up!"

Both were very little girls, the tallest of the duo coming up to my chin at best. Her short orange hair is tied up in a stubby ponytail. As I make contact with her bright ocean blue eyes she shrinks back a bit and hides behind her short companion. She comes up to my chest and totes strawberry blonde hair hanging down to her shoulders, coupled with a set of lively green eyes. She was notably small for a girl in high school, but her sailor smock draped over her body oddly.

"Sorry about her," She says, referring to the orange haired girl behind her, "She;s a first year and shes shy. I'm Amelia Weibe, but you can call me Milly." She introduces herself, meeting my hi five with a resounding clap.

"Nice to meet you Milly." I respond, "My name is Eleonore Fujiaka, but most people call me Ele. My friend here is Illaria Nakahara, and most people call her Illaria."

My blue haired friend waves to them, "Hello, nice to meet you." She says softly.

"You too. The shy one here is Matilda, but I call her Tilly," She thrusts her head in the direction of the orange haired girl almost cowering behind her, "Cute as a puppy but a lot more shy. Don't worry, she'll warm up to you eventually."

Looking at her again I can't help but agree with her and I get a bit googly eyed. Tilly looks almost like she hadn't aged past grade school, or maybe it's just her shy and soft demeanor that makes her seem more youthful than she already looks, but as she is I want to scoop her up and take her home and pretend to be her momma. Thankfully I don't say that, as it would definitely sound a lot creepier than I would mean it.

"Dawwww, you are right. She is downright precious."

Illaria giggled, "Way to make a tough first impression on her Ele," She says, then adds, "No offense…"

I pat her on the back jovially, "None taken Illaria." I mean it sincerely, after all nothing wrong with a friendly jab. So what if I couldn't help but be a bit soft around cute things?

I turn my attention back to Milly and ask her, "So what brings you girls into tankery?"

Milly shrugs, "Well it gives us something to do besides cleaning the air ducts down below. Besides that, it seems like fun. Tilly is trying to learn to be braver, so that's why she's here."

The aforementioned carrot top turns red. "Milly, don't say that," She whines.

Illaria looks at Tilly, "You too then? I actually was hoping for the same thing. I have a hard time going out and meeting people, and doing things that are scary like tankery. I'm hoping to learn to be strong and admirable like Ele, so I think this is a great place to start."

Tilly peeks out from behind Milly, her shimmering blue orbs locking onto Illaria, wary, but with a spark of curiosity about them. "You're scared too?" She asks slowly.

Before Illaria can respond Milly yanks her out from behind her and thrusts her out in front of Illaria, telling her, "That's no way to talk to people Tilly. Meet them face to face and speak properly."

Tilly's face burns a deep, deep shade of red and she is unable to meet Illaria's gaze as she speaks to her. "I-I-I-I'm Matilda Mayfield. It's nice to meet you. I hope we can become friends." The line sounds scripted, and more than a little practice, but the genuine sentiment of it was still there.

"M-me too," Illaria replies softly, adjusting her glasses nervously, "Uh….so uh….what are you in other than tankery? I'm trying out theatre this year."

I can't help but smile proudly at the mention of that. We had to go through a lot to get her to where she would, on her own, sign up to take theatre on her own. She used to cry when she would get up in front of the class for presentations, so to have gotten her to where she would actually get on stage was a huge thing of pride for both of us.

"I'm in communications," Tilly replies quickly, "I'm much too shy to be on stage."

"There's also the problem of her taking all the attention away from everyone else on the stage." Milly jokes. "After all who could tear their eyes of such a cutie?" Tilly's face is beet red, and she looks like she might burst if she gets any redder.

"She is something," I admit, "I'm in gymnastics myself. Last year I was in volleyball, this year I'm in track." I glance ever so briefly over at the display of painfully obnoxious color scheme that is their vehicle, "Say...which one of you decided to paint the poor tank like a zebra that went and got smashed drunk in a pastel factory?"

"That was our third crew member" Milly explains, "She's not here at the moment cause she's… even more shy than Tilly is sometimes. She calls it Dazzle Camo. Don't stare at it, you'll burn your eyes out."

I shield my face from the obnoxious paint scheme. "You didn't need to tell me that."

"I think it looks pretty," Comes a soft voice from the garage entrance. I look for whoever spoke, but can't seem to spot any likely candidates, not in the direction it came from at least.

"Huh? Who was that?" I call out, and I get a small meep, but no more response.

Milly sighs, "That's her. Dakota's the one who painted it. Try not to bother her right now, it took a lot to get her to come this far. I've had to take baby steps with these two babies." She gestures to the hiding Dakota and the red faced Matilda.

"I totally understand," I reply, reaching around to pull Illaria closer to me, "I've been working with this little bunny since she was six trying to get her to toughen up. It's been a long road but she now goes in public without hiding behind me."

"Noooooreeee chan, I didn't do it that much," Illaria protests.

"Then why are you doing it right now?" I reply with a smirk. Illaria realizes now that she's managed to shift to halfway behind me, and jumps out from behind me, rather embarrassed.

"Aieeeee! Sorry!"

I pat her on the head affectionately, "No worries no worries. But you still need to toughen up, so I am going to have you stay here and talk to these girls on your own."

Illaria gulps and nods softly, "A-alright," She turned to Milly, "So anyways...I like watching birds…"

Milly blinks. "Uh, really? Um… what kind of birds?"

Satisfied that Illaria is able to handle herself here, I head off to do some solo socializing. I initially head to the tank with a boxy hull, large wheels and thin tracks, it was some sort of Polish tank if I remember correctly, but I stop, noticing Emmett is still here, and I have to make pass at him. Emmett is simply the cutest guy to ever lay hands on a tank. He's about 153 centimeters tall and has adorably scraggly light brown hair and endearing blue eyes. He's a bit scrawny and youthful looking, and a lot would call him a shota, but everyone knows shotas grow up to be dashingly handsome.

I take a deep breath as I approach him, remembering to put on my most confident grin. Boys absolutely love a confident lady.

"Heeeeeey, Emmett," I greet him, sitting next to him on the bench he's seated on, up against the garage building, "How's it hanging? Been a while since we talked huh?"

He fidgets in his seat and replies, "Yeah uh...I guess so."

I figure that he must be shy because he likes me and decide to try to break the ice with some flirting. "So Emmett, I really like what you've done with your hair. Really brings out those pretty eyes."

He looks at me now with his head tilted and his eyes narrowed, a bit confused. Confused at how a little guy like him could get the attention of a babe like me maybe?

"I uh….thanks?" He replies unsure. I decide now is the best time to wrap it up, leave him wanting more and leave a surefire impression on him.

"Any time sweet thing," I reply, striking a pose that lets him see my nice muscle toned body, "Any time you wanna hang, I always get extra movie tickets."

Satisfied that I have captured his heart, I strut out of there with just enough booty motion to prevent his eyes from wandering away until I reached the two girls and their weird Polish tank. Both of them stand between 150 and 160 centimeters about, and the taller one has long, straight black hair and brown eyes. She wears a blue beret on her head, coupled with a white blouse and knee length blue skirt. The other has chin length, straight brown hair and hazel eyes, and wears a black frilly mini skirt and a white blouse like her companion.

"Yo!" I call out to greet them, "What's going on?"

The raven haired girl looks over at me but the other girl doesn't turn her head. "We are just here waiting" She answers simply. "Are you representing the club president?"

I put my hands on my hips, wondering how anyone could think for a moment I looked like a student body official. "No, I'm being friendly. Don't ya wanna talk a little."

"Not especially," She replies, not even bothering to make eye contact with me. The nerve of some people! Did she decide to sign up on her period?

"Well geez, somebody is in a mood," I huff, "Aren't you in the least bit excited to try out tanking? Did your boyfriend break up with you or slap you?"

"It's none of your concern." She replies coldly.

The other girl finally speaks up. "She's just dealing with some things right now. She's normally much friendlier. Really. Um… I'm Reizo Kizashi, but you can call me Rei. Reizo meaning: cool, calm and well groomed. Oh, and this is Yokomo Kurosawa."

Finally, someone pleasant to talk to. I smile at her and reply, "Nice to meet you Rei. I'm Eleonore Fujiaka, but you can just call me Ele. Is your friend here alright?"

"Yes she's fine, just…. leave her be for now and she'll probably be in a better mood. I just don't want you to have a bad impression of her. She's a good person really." Yokomo glares at Rei mildly but says nothing.

Well I guess it was best to leave off on a good note like this. "Alright, maybe we can talk later then."

I turn to go meet some more people, maybe the crews of those two German tanks back away from everyone else, when I hear the sound of an engine approaching. I turn and see a new tank pull into the garage area. It has the same suspension as the Polish one Yokomo and Rei are using, but is narrower and has a much more angled front part. The front of the turret looks different, though the shape is very similar to the Polish one as well. Unlike many of the other tanks here a flashy paint scheme is not upon it, instead, it bears a much more sensible dark forest green.

As it comes to a stop, the first crew member to exit the tank has a soft pink pleated skirt and a cream colored button up short sleeve jacket. Her ankle high boots are a dark greyish brown, and her midnight blue hair comes down to the middle of her back. I can't identify her eye color from here. After her a small girl with ear length brown hair comes out, wearing the same pink skirt as the first but with a plain white tee as her top of choice. Her little black running shoes make it plainly obvious she has rather small feet. The last crew member to get out has odd, greyish blue hair, and wears a dark blue hoodie and tan cargo shorts.

They look interesting, and I want to go over and talk to them, but Felicita call us all over to gather in a circle around her tank, at the center of the area in front of the garages, and I don't get the opportunity. Felicita explains how the first day of tankery will proceed in her usual commanding, dry manner.

"Alright everyone, welcome to the very first day of the very first tankery team of Sabaton High School." She said through a mic linked to a loudspeaker, "Now I have made sure that comprehensive training material has been assigned to each crew to assist them in learning the operation of their vehicle."

I raise my hand for a question and she gestures to me. "You have something to ask?"

"Yeah," I shout up to her from my position back in the crowd, "Do we get to do any shooting?"

"The armored vehicles are loaded with blank rounds that will help you familiarize yourself with loading and firing the weapons without endangering yourselves or anyone else." She replies.

Okay, so at least we get to see some big guns going off. So today was off to a good start.

"Anyways, I have marked off the area we shall be using for basic vehicle control and handling training. It is 250x250 meters and features no major obstacles or hazards." She says, gesturing to an open field to our right, with the 250x250 meters marked off by bright red fences. "We have two hours of practice ahead of us. Any questions."

"Yes," The midnight blue haired girl from the last tank to arrive says, "Shouldn't we have adult supervision?"

"In my touring of schools that actively conduct tankery, I have found the most successful ones have taken a very hands off learning approach." Felicita replies.

There is some murmuring amongst the crowd and Felicita asks once again, "Any more questions?" This time nobody responds.

"Alright. Then everyone man your vehicles." She commands. As the crowd disperses I find Illaria and we head over to Felicita.

"So which tank are you hoping for?" I ask Illaria.

"Oh, I'm hoping for one of the Panzer IIs. They're too kawaii," She giggles.

"Not a bad choice. If it weren't for the fact the Prez has it I'd want that big turret tank, it's got a nice big gun." I say, arriving at Felis tank.

"Hey, Feli!" I address her and she cringes about something, "Which tank do we get?"

"You get," She sighs, "To be in my tank."

"Are you serious?" I ask, rather miffed at first.

"Yes, I am serious. There were no other tanks left, and I needed a crew. Eleonore, your strength makes you the perfect loader candidate, while Illaria is intelligent and can likely grasp driving without much difficulty."

Now I get another idea of what is really going on. "Aha! So you really do appreciate us as friends and roommates, and this is your indirect way of saying it!"

Felicita crosses her arms and puts on the closest thing yet I've seen her do to a pouting face. "No, I simply recognize your talents as valuable. I do not desire a personal level relationship with any of you."

That was Feli alright. She acted all cold and professional around everyone, but I knew better. One day she'd crack, and I just hoped I would be around to see it. I climbed up onto the back of her tank and made sure to get as obnoxiously close to her as possibly.

"So, where do we start?"

**~Milly~**

I look over the Semovente with Tilly and Dakota. "So who should do what? I don't know much about tanks."

Tilly swallows. "I think Dakota should get first dibs since she's so… uh, she might have trouble fitting."

I can tell that Tilly is trying to bring up the issue of Dakota's height as gently as possible. She doesn't really know Dakota very well though it's hard to miss her if she wasn't hiding.

Dakota stands at a skyscraper-like 190 centimeters, making her tower over the other girls, especially when both herself and Tilly are rather small for high schoolers. In fact her hair which is long and dark brown, tied into two thick braids, is probably as long as we are tall, if not more so.

"O-oh that's really nice of you." Dakota, despite her shyness is a very nice girl and she seems to be in a more upbeat mood now that she isn't having to deal with total strangers. "I kinda was hoping to be the one controlling the gun, since it looks really easy to get in and I bet shooting is real fun."

I chuckle. "Yeah, that makes sense. The top is basically just one big hatch right? Um, what are the other crew positions on a tank like this?"

Tilly twiddles her thumbs. "Um, I think it's just three crew for this machine. A gunner/commander, a loader and driver. Also I'm not sure this is technically a tank. Don't tanks have turrets?"

I shrug. "I'm the wrong girl to ask. I'm not good with confined spaces as you know. With that in mind I don't think I should be the loader." Nobody has to ask why, the reason is hidden under my uniform smock.

"I can do that." Tilly offers. "Is that okay Dakota?"

"Sure!" Dakota says, pulling the hatch over the commander and loaders compartment open, "Let's get in it and see if we can't drive it!"

"Can we get to the driving compartment through the big hatch?" Tilly asked as she looked inside.

"It doesn't look like it," Dakota replies, noticing a translated field manual in the commander's seat. "Let's see if this can't help us out." She sifts through the pages until she finds a guide to the crew positions.

"It seems that the driver and the loader sit on the left side and share the main hatch, and the commander sits on the right and gets in through a smaller hatch covering the same opening." Dakota explains, "So yeah, we basically all get in through the same opening on the top more or less."

"Well that makes things easier for me" I grunt as I struggle to climb onto the machine. "Geez, I guess I've gotten a little out of shape." I've been having trouble climbing for a while now. I managed to climb on top and joined the other two girls to help open the large hatch. "Well I guess the only thing left is for me to drive."

"Do you know how to drive one of theses?" Tilly asks.

"Meh, can't be that much harder than the old tractors back home." I settle down into the drivers seat and start fiddling with switches and buttons. A moment later the Semovente coughs to life, a puff of black smoke belching out of the exhaust. "It's working now!" I yell.

"Yaaaaaay!" Dakota cheers, "Alright, can you make it move?"

I grabb on the levers which I assume control the two sets of tracks and then yank them both back in awkward combination with the pedals, assuming it is a manual, but the machine doesn't move. "Uh, I guess that's not right." I put the levers back into their original position and then notice the larger lever to the left with numbers on it. "Oh is this the gear lever?" I depress the hard clutch and try to move the lever but the spring causes it to fall back, which I was not prepared for and the machine suddenly lurches into reverse.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay," Dakota cheers, bouncing in her seat like a happy toddler, "We're moving!"

There is a jolt coinciding with a loud bang and grinding metal until I manage to stop the machine with the brake levers and take it out of gear.

"Um, we hit something" Tilly says nervously, looking behind us at the Panzer II now on its side.

"Waaaaaaaw!" Dakota cries like an upset toddler, "We hit something! Milly make it stoooooop!"

"It's okay I think I got it" I told them, shoving the gear lever into the '1' position and releasing the brakes. The Semovente rumbles forward away from the starting area and I started to get used to moving the machine with the levers. "Yeah I got it."

Tilly clings nervously to Dakota, still anxious about crashing into something again as everyone else seems to be trying to learn as well. Dakota isn't doing a whole lot better, clinging tightly to the much smaller girl.

"I can't believe I signed up for this," She mewls, "Tanks are much scarier when they're real...'

"Oh come on you two" I yell over the noise of their machine. "You will never make it out in the real world if you're scared of a little thing like this. Now let's see how fast this thing goes."

**(Eureka)**

"So we drive this by…" I squint at the small text on the driving manual I hold in front of me. Between the size of font, the loose translation of the original wording and the dark conditions of my tank, it's going to take a while to read and fully understand. "I should've taken Hieroglyphics for this…"

"Come on Eureka, you're not even the driver, hand it down to me." My only other crew member, Eclair, isn't helping. She has been pestering about handing her the manual for about the last...what seems like hours.

"Fine, fine, here, take the dang thing, I can barely read it anyways." Dropping the manual down onto the floor of our Panzer II Ausf. G, I sigh deeply and look out the gunner's sight. Being the Commander, Gunner and Loader wasn't going to be easy.

I just about gave up on starting this tin can when the engine roared to life behind me. "All done."

Eclair looks up at me in glee, I can see the sparkle in her eye, despite our lighting conditions. I can't understand that girl, miracles I tell you.

"Right then...I'mma check on Flanders' team…" Rotating the turret, I find the other Panzer II Ausf. G, in command of the insane Flanders, our good old Flanders of course. "Don't tell me that…" I notice that the Semovente, obviously from the Red Sea of Rivets, and painted in the most eye burning paint scheme imaginable, is backing up towards Flanders team.

Reaching for the radio behind me, I watch more intently when the Semovente collides with the Panzer II. "Oh my…" The impact near beheads Flanders, who has her head poking out, as the tank rolls over into a ditch.

"HEY ASSHAT, WHY DON'T YOU STICK A-" I quickly tried to switch frequencies as Flanders explodes like a Tactical Nuke. The girl is usually quiet, but tick her off and you're in for a world of hurt. I accidentally flip back to the previous channel and find she is still ranting. "-AT'S RIGHT! BACK OFF! I'M GOING TO FIND YOU AND FLIP YOU OVER! SEE HOW IT FEELS THEN!"

I toss the radio onto the ground and it fizzles to silence. "Flanders is nice, isn't she?" Eclair looks back from her seat and smiles. "Hey do you hear anything?" We both look back at the engine compartment, which is starting to rattle.

"I think we should-" The engine starts to snap, crackle and pop, like cereal if it was trying to kill us. Then it proceeds to spout out smoke like a computer that has too much GPU for the CPU to handle. "We should get out of here." I quickly evacuate out the turret hatch, a tight fit to be honest, at least in a hurry.

Eclair quickly trails behind me and dives into the grass while I dusted myself off. As I just relax and clear my throat the tank groans one more time. Finally the entire rear of the tank just goes up in smoke, the engine was going to kill us with smog if we hadn't gotten out of there.

"Woo! Fun times eh?" Eclair props herself back up like a figurine with her Orchid-colored Twin Drills hair. God knows how she gets it that way, waving around wildly as she raises her arms up in excitement.

"Yep, fun times." I hold my arms akimbo and stared at the Panzer II Ausf. G, or rather, the big black plume of smoke in its place, the mechanics team scrambling over to it to try and suppress the hazy black emissions. "I want to do that again honestly." Over in the distance, Flanders was still ranting, albeit to her own crew member, Lux, who was certainly lying dead in the grass, so I signalled over to Eclair, who nodded, and we started to link up with the other two.

**=Rei=**

"Fourteen TP" Komo reads from the sheet she'd found taped to the tank. "Hmmm, it says we need a crew of four…"

I watch her brows furrow. Komo had never been much of a socialite. "Well let's just worry about learning how to operate this thing for now. Besides I don't think we need more than one more person."

Komo pouts. "But you know I'm not comfortable with other people, you know that."

I sigh and wrap my arm around her waist. "Don't worry. The people here won't be like the ones at your old school. Besides, this is the only choice we have at the moment." Komo lays her head on my shoulder, a way of showing how tired she is. Not physically, just emotionally.

"Let's just not get too involved for a while okay Rei?"

"Of course not Komo. I wouldn't want you to be more uncomfortable than necessary. Now let's just get this thing to start working. I'll drive."

Komo reluctantly removes herself from me and climbs on top of the tank. I slip myself into the tiny crew compartment, thankful for the first time that I didn't have a huge bust.

Inside there are a few cheat sheets taped on the walls showing how to start the tank but unfortunately the ones actually showing how to drive appear to have been ripped out at some point. I follow the instructions as best I can and manage to get the tank started. The headsets inside allow us to talk to each other, which was good because Komo has actually done some research regarding operating tanks.

"Now just put it into gear and stear using the brake levers."

I do as I am told and start the tank out in first gear. It isn't particularly fast overall but whenever you are driving something you are unfamiliar with, any speed is too fast.

"Okay we have a lots of room so try and get us going faster."

I nervously shift into second gear and then shortly into third.

"Faster!" Komo calls. She sounds surprisingly happy. I always want Komo to be happy so I shift into fourth and then into the final top gear, bringing the tank up to its top speed.

"This is as fast as we can go!" I call back.

"Look out!"

I peer through the drivers viewport and gasp in horror as a brick wall comes into view. I yank hard on the left brake lever and the tank turns hard, going into a spin. I grab both brake levers and pull them back and then I hear a crashing sound but the tank doesn't even shudder before it comes to a stop. I put the tank in neutral and pop out of the hatch to survey the damage.

The tanks tracks had carved some dark spirals into the grass as it spun, going right through a white picket fence that lies in splinters from the 14 ton machine going through it. "Oops."

"Get us back to the garage, quick!" Komo calls to me. I dive back into my seat and slam the tank into gear, spinning the tracks and kicking up dirt as we go.

Uh, how's it up there?" I ask Komo, wanting to avoid discussion about what had just happened.

"I might need help after all" She admits grudgingly. "I mean, I bet I could load and fire the gun just fine on my own but…. being the commander on top of that… well we'll have to see what happens. There's no rush anyway."

We drive back to the garage and shut the tank down, some of the others still practicing with their machines. I climb out of my hatch and up onto the turret to sit beside Komo.

"I hope we don't regret this" She mutters.

"Don't worry about it" I tell her, putting my hand on hers. "I'll always be here for you, so you don't have to worry about being alone. Just try to make some friends with the other girls too okay? They all seem like a nice bunch and you're not going to help things by being unfriendly."

Komo sighs and leans her head against my shoulder. "I'll try."

**{Eleonore}**

On my end, it doesn't take much time to get a grasp of my job. There are these storage racks full of bullets- or shells, as they are referred to in a tank- in this sort of basket below the turret. I pick them up and show them forcefully into the back of the gun, making sure my hand clears the gun before the block comes up and squishes it. The block is what keeps the shell in place inside the gun. Being a fairly simple task Feli doesn't make me practice at it for too long, and with my strength I actually manage to get an average loading time half a second faster than the normal load time.

The end result of all this pointless babble is that I get a front row seat to the disaster that is our first day or training. It isn't really training though, since nobody is instructing, it's a bunch of people haphazardly trying to operate tanks and not kill themselves or cause massive amounts of property damage. At one point, a Panzer II is in a ditch, another is buried in smoke, the Polish tank has just come back from smashing a fence and getting into an almost crash, and Illaria has just came dangerously close to destroying our transmission by grinding out the clutch.

Now Feli is normally pretty stoic, so I can't help but be rather concerned when all this is enough to make her bury her face in her hands and shake her head, remarking, "We've got a long way to go…"


	3. Chapter III- In Plain Sight

**A small foreword here in homage to one of our writers who left but left and impression, k9catforce. Your appearances were brief and left an eternal mark on our story. In homage to Yuki's creator, I give this chapter an honorary title, the name of the fanfic he was supposed to be the hero of. In Plain Sight.**

**[Yuki]**

I stand alongside my BT-7 at the dock leading up to our new school, Sabaton, feeling the anticipation butterflies begin to stir in my stomach, even its rather small size making this change no less daunting. I look down to check my clothes, a white short sleeve jacket with a pink pleated skirt, and then over to my faithful childhood friend, Hikari.

"Hikari, this is a bit overboard, don't you think? This school is co ed, shouldn't I not have to cross dress?" I ask her.

A diminutive girl with ear length chestnut hair puts her hands on her hips. "The school may be co-ed, Yuki, but tankery is only for girls, remember? Besides, I'm not letting all the work we went through to make you girly go to waste."

Of course. It was Hikari who had supported this ridiculous idea to get me crossdressing in the first place, a task which I sometimes think she enjoyed a little too much. I pitched it to her and she jumped over it like a kitten on fresh catnip.

"Well, you know, any girlier than he already was," smirks the other girl. Yunko is taller than Hikari and only slightly shorter than I am. Her hair is an odd dusty blue colour which she keeps in a ponytail that just covers the nape of her neck.

"I'm not that girly," I huff, rolling my eyes at Yunko, "Let's not waste any time, we're probably late already." I sigh, climbing up onto the back of the BT.

Yunko giggles. "He's so cute when he's flustered," she says, as if I am not literally right there where I can hear them. Tact was never really her strong point.

Hikari sighs. "Funny how your feminine side only seems to come out when he's around."

"I could say the same for you," she grins. Hikari ignores her and climbs onto the BT-7's engine deck with me.

"See anything?"

"It's a small school ship, but it's not that small," I reply, peering through a set of binoculars, "I can't see a thing going on on the main deck. Let's get her fired up and find the training grounds. Junko, you printed the map, right?"

Yunko pulls a crumpled piece of paper out of her hoodie pouch and hands it to me with a huge grin. "Yeah, I did; this is a real gem. Looks like she's from as far back as the thirties. Old Swedish ship they sold off to us. It'll be quite something to see a foreign schoolship up close." She rubs her hands together eagerly.

"Hm, well maybe we'll learn when we get there," I shrug, "But you can find us the hangars, right?"

"I'll just look for some oversized garages. That should be close enough," Yunko replies cheekily, climbing into the driver's compartment.

Hikari rolls her eyes and slips her legs into the hatch on the BT-7's turret. "You better get in before she sets of. You know how she drives."

"You don't have to remind me," I reply, slipping into the commanders hatch, "Uh, Hikari, you think my hair is long enough?"

"Hey, it's longer than both of ours and we're real girls." The BT-7 roars to life and Yunko lurches the tank forward, sending it down the road towards the aft section of the ship. "How's your bra fitting?" She yells over the BT's engine.

I adjust my bra, a key element in my gender deception, which with the help of some stuffing gives the impression that I have a pair of large B-cups. "It fits fine," I reply with an equally loud shout, "How's my voice?"

"It's good enough. Good thing puberty treated your vocals gently. Try to avoid showing any skin or undies and you'll be just fine."

Yuki smiled. "Got it. Hey Hikari, thanks again for helping me go through on this. I hope you know what it means to me."

Hikari's cheeks lighten to a soft pink hue. "Well, yeah. Just don't use it as an excuse to see girls less than decent, or I'll smack you! Uh… you're welcome."

I feel my cheeks burning lightly at the idea, "I wouldn't think of it."

We make our way onto the aft section of the ship where we scout out some garages, and manage to pull into the small rough circle of tanks centered around an odd looking bobblehead tank right as they are all called by a raven haired girl, around Hikari's height, standing up atop the rather odd looking vehicle. The girl herself catches my attention quite sharply, commanding a much larger presence in my head than someone so small normally would. As she explains what's going on, I whisper to my teammates.

"So she's the Captain huh? Quite a presence for such a small girl."

Hikari frowns at my comment but Yunko smiles. "Yeah she looks like she's quite something. Well, they say that short people tend to compensate with spunk." She pats Hikari on the head affectionately. "Time to see if your girl acting lessons have payed off Yuki. Go and introduce us."

"Let's let her finish talking," I reply. As she calls the teams to their vehicles to begin the training, we have to wait as two girls discuss their terms of tankery with her. Just watching them interact I can already feel how cold she is. Cold, but not detached. It's an odd combination I have yet to come up with a right description for.

As the white and blue haired girls depart I swallow my nervousness and step forward towards the shorter girl, but despite the few centimeters I have on her it feels like she is staring down upon me.

"Good day Ma'am," I bow politely, "I am Yuki Hayashi and these are my teammates, loader Hikari Fujioka, and driver Yunko Fukami."

"Wassup!" Yunko calls, waving her hand cheerfully. Hikari simply bows, careful not to let her short skirt show too much.

The ice blue eyes of the president lock onto us and surveys us, analyzing carefully. It's a look which makes me want to crawl back into my tank and hide there, a look that I am sure will see right through me. And yet, when her sharp gaze breaks, she seems not to have detected anything. I can't really tell from where I stand, but if she had been able to discern my true nature I assume her reaction would have been a measure more severe.

"Well then we're glad to have you on the team," she says with a surprising amount of stoic sincerity, "I am Felicita Yamaguchi, president of this school and presiding commander of the tankery team. As you can see, we have the training area for today marked off with a picket fence. Considering transportation provisions, I assume you didn't bring any ammunition along with you?"

I shake my head, "No Ma'am, our vehicle only has fuel, and some spare parts with it."

Felicita puts a hand on her chin. "Alright, as expected. In your tankery team application I noticed you mentioned the vehicle, so I took the liberty of assuming you would follow up on your application and purchased a set of live competition grade shells. For our purposes today however you shall only be using blank shells, to avoid injury to fellow teammates and property damage."

"She talks more like a teacher than a student" Yunko whispers to Hikari who nods slightly.

"Well, makes sense since she seems to be playing the part of an instructor, and she is the president."

Felicita perks up slightly at those words but doesn't react to them, perhaps not hearing or caring. "I'll have one of our repair team start helping you load the shells up, and then you can proceed about practicing with the others."

I wish to tell her that it wasn't needed, that me and my team had been maintaining and working the BT-7 since we were 10, but looking into her eyes I feel muted and obliged to follow. At Felicita's command, a boy about Junkos height with brown hair and blue eyes and tannish skin comes up to us wheeling in a cart of 37mm rounds.

"Hey ladies. Hope you don't mind a boy helping you out with the supplies," he says cheekily.

Yunko smiles. "Not at all. Feel free to supply us with whatever's needed," she winks.

The young fellow blushes a luminous pink, Felicita departing as she seems to think we have things under control.

"Well um, usually when we loaded the other tanks, one person would hand the crates up to another on top of the tank, who would hand them to a person inside, then that person would fill the ammo racks," he explained, "Yours is the Russian one in the back, right?"

"Yeah," I say, trying not to make eye contact. I know dealing with boys is part of being a girl, but it just feels really weird doing it as a girl, especially considering I am not a genuine female. Though at least this one seems decent enough. "It's a BT-7, handed down from my grandfa- mother." I correct myself quickly.

"Oh, that's really neat, we don't get a lot of real tanks," The brown haired boy says, "I myself am not really into tanks, but I appreciate them. It's just a bit too girly for me to get into. But hey, a guy can still appreciate girls clothing, so in the same way, I like tanks. By the way, my name is Emmett."

"Nice to meet you too Emmett." I say, trying not to make it sound weak or nervous as best as I can.

"How'd you get drafted to help with the girl sports?" Yunko asks. "It's not something most guys like getting involved in. Too many cooties." She avoids looking at me as she asks.

Emmett pulls the cart to a stop as we arrive at the BT-7, "I'm actually the only volunteer in the entire repair crew. My buddy Noah got caught embezzling two hundred yen of his clubs fund money to buy a cookie for his girlfriend, and when they offered him the choice of either being on the repair crew for the semester or being an assistant in the Naval studies for a month he took this job and I went along with him."

Immediately I think that if I remain too silent it might draw suspicion, and I thus react by remarking, "Wow, two hundred yen? Is she really that ruthless?"

Emmett chuckles, "Well she kinda had to be, because only a year ago, there were people getting away with misusing billions of yen in funds. He was just caught in the crackdown was all. Hey, can two of you get up and help out loading this thing up, please?"

"Oh, sure." The small Hikari goes into the turret while Yunko takes the shells from Emmett and passes them through the loading port.

"Hoping you'll get a girlfriend volunteering like this?" Yunko asks him.

Emmett shrugs as he hands her up the first couple of shells. "I'm not particularly looking for a girlfriend, but I hear that really nice and strong women are often in tanks so I'm kind of hoping to meet a girl that's right for me."

"Heh, figures. So what's your type then?"

Emmett puts a finger on his chin, "Hm, well I want a girl that's at least a bit smart. I mean, she doesn't have to be brilliant but I don't want a complete ditz either. I'd like it if we had a lot in common to talk about, and since i like things like art and stories that would be a lot of things, after all, a picture or a story can be literally anything, existent or not."

"Well that all leaves you out Yunko" Hikari calls from within the tank.

"You too" Yunko shoots back. "So then Emmett, what kind of things do people do for fun on this ship? I hear the nightlife here is pretty crazy."

"Like you wouldn't believe." Emmett replies, "We have lots of clubs where our many, many bands love to play at when they aren't throwing the weekly concerts, which are legendary. Pretty girls like yourselves oughta have no trouble picking up some of the guys here at the clubs. Say, you don't mind if I ask what your type is?"

"Oh, well I like a guy who's lotsa fun to be with and I can flirt with all the time. Still I'm not really the type of girl who has a steady boyfriend in high school. Know what I mean?"

"Ah, yeah," Emmett nods, "Not easy finding someone you can stay strong with. What about you?" He turns to me, "I know it's a weird thing for a guy to ask but hey, anything to break the boxy lifting monotony right?"

My cheeks light up a soft red and I am unable to make eye contact with the young man. "I…." I take a second and remember my training, "Well I think I'd like a strong man, who can lead me and show me things in life. Not super controlling but more guiding and firm, but also with a nice soft side."

Emmett chuckles, "You sound like you read that out of a romance novel. Coming from a guy who's written a few romantic short stories that's no offense."

I breath a soft sigh of relief. I was able to say it and have it hold up to muster. The real test though, that of a girls judgement, has yet to pass. "Well I guess I can be a bit of a romantic. Are there lots of boys here?"

"Oh plenty, almost a third of the population." Emmett replies, "Gives you lots to choose from."

"Sounds good" Yunko grins. "Lots of fish for me to hook. Are tanking girls popular among the guys here?"

"Dunno, we just started up the program this year," Emmett says, "Guess you'll get to find out," he says, winking. We continue on with the small talk until the BT-7 is stocked full of practice blank shells and ready to go. Emmett waves goodbye as he wheels the cart away and I climb up on the BT-7.

"Alright everyone, let's show them what we can do." I say, "Junko, drive us out to about the center of that training area." I glance over at a Panzer II being toppled over into a ditch by some sort of StuG like assault gun painted in a most murderously loud and painful paint scheme. "And be careful, I don't think anyone else here has touched a tank in their life."

"Awww, the poor baby seals" Yunko grins maliciously as she slips into the driver's seat.

"Let's try to avoid being too rough," Hikari advises, "We don't want to earn their animosity either. So let's try to leave one of them alive." She grins and vanishes into the turret.

I follow her in and order Yunko to go ahead and move the tank to the center where I had indicated earlier. As we begin to advance, I spot the 14TP speeding towards us and frantically kick both Yunko's shoulders and hold my feet there.

Yunko jams the brakes on and stops the BT-7 in its tracks, the Polish light tank clipping our fender. "What are they doing?" She asks as the other tank streaks by.

"I don't know!" I shout back, "God knows why you'd want to make a tank go that fast. They gotta be pushing 60 Kph at least. Forget about leaving the seals alive, we'd be lucky if they left us alive at this rate! Keep moving ahead, but be careful."

Yunko shrugs and resumes plodding forward where some of the other machines are moving around.

"What's the plan?" Hikari asks.

"Well, I figure if we show we can drive and shoot without ending up in a ditch, maybe the Prez will let us out of here before we end up in wheelchairs." I reply, signaling Yunko to bring the tank to a halt.

"Alright girls, let's show them what we've got," I remark, noting the irony of the statement.

We go to work and put the BT-7 through it's paces, at first doing simple maneuvers like figure 8s and circles, before working up to more intricate patterns that resemble a roller coaster turned on its side. Once we've shown our hand at maneuvers, we move on to shooting. The blank shells we are loaded fire a wad of colored paper instead of a shell, so we aim at the side of a small brick building towards the edge of the perimeter.

Our first series of shots are nice and paced, and we manage to strike the side of the building several times in succession without fail. Next comes rapid fire, loading and firing the BTs gun at the maximum 26 rounds per minute it could cycle. Thankfully it held much ammo, as we manage to burn 20 shells like this, and managed to hit about half of them.

We continue on to do stopping and firing and on the move firing, which though they net a lot more misses, still result in more hits than anyone else is making stationary or otherwise, though what some of them are firing at is unclear at best. Perhaps they just enjoy the sensation of the gun going off?

I smile at Hikari as we finish the drills, glad to know all our hard work learning the vehicle beforehand had paid off. Just then, the loudspeakers come to life and the President herself calls us to the garages. I'm rather curious as to what she has called us for, and I order Yunko to move the BT-7 over to where she is, near the garages.

As we come to a stop I get out of my tank and she is already there waiting for me outside hers, still in an imposing stance. She couldn't be suspicious of me could she? Not just from a little good driving. I stand up straight as I face her and she speaks to me.

"Yuki, where did you attain your skills in operating this vehicle?" She asks sternly.

"I've been around it since I was eight Ma'am," I respond quickly, almost like it was the military or something. Felicita had a certain aspect about her that made her feel martial and militant.

"Hm, I see." Felicita nods, "And how much of that time have you actually spent operating it?"

"Since I was thirteen, my parents supervised me taking it out to some fields to learn it." I respond. It's almost impossible meeting her gaze but I manage to look at her chin without much trouble. It's sharp, clean, like the rest of her.

"I see. Yuki, if you keep this up, you'll be my prime candidate for Vice Commander." She tells me.

I freeze in place and am shaking my head on the inside. No no no, this wasn't any good. My first day and I was already standing out. We weren't even that good, everyone else was just that bad! But I figure she's already realized this and don't bring the point up. At the same time though I feel a spark in my heart. As counter as it ran to my mantra of staying out of focus…..it felt warming to have someone giving me good marks for what I had done.

"I…...I…." I stammer, stutter, falter. Thankfully she seems to have been expecting this reaction and pats my head a single time briefly. The contact nearly makes me jump.

"I understand it is a big step for you Yuki, but you are the only one here who seems to have the competence in armored vehicles to be able to serve any kind of authority position. I highly doubt anyone here at the moment is in any shape to fulfill such a position," she says, watching a light pole fall victim to the fabulously painted menace that was the assault gun.

I sigh in relief under my breath as her hand pulls away. My job had gotten infinitely harder and it was my first day on the team. Sure I didn't want to only be in the background and never be noticed, that in itself might draw curiosity, and would hardly be an improvement from only drawing negative attention, but I didn't want to be the focus, and surely not the focus of someone so important!

"I….can I have time to think?" I ask sheepishly.

"But of course," Felicita replies, "One must be decisive in a battle, but one cannot make a good decision until they have appropriately evaluated all their options. I was merely bringing the option to you so you could take it under consideration."

I don't even try to match her extravagant wording, and give a simple reply of, "Yes Ma'am. I am flattered you considered me for the role."

"I don't flatter Yuki, I give objective appraisals and yours is positive," She replies, "Since you've done so well I will allow you to cease practice at your discretion. Now please leave me, I must supervise those more in need of supervision," she says, climbing up onto the tank.

I sigh and slump down next to the BT-7, almost certain that my cohorts won't let me hear the end of this.

Yunko comes over and pats me on the head. "Awww, who's a good Yuki? Who's a good Yuki?" She taunts me in a baby-like voice.

I roll my eyes at her, "Oh cut it out, will you. We're not any good, everyone else is just dismal. How was I supposed to know that they'd struggle to grasp driving without hitting each other, obstacles, or rolling over?"

"Well, that still puts you better off than they are," Hikari says, "And be honest, this is a good thing. You're being given responsibility and recognition for your skills. Isn't that something you've always wanted?"

Yunko wraps her arm around my neck and pulls me close. "Yeah, it's pretty much the opposite of being bullied," she says, "Lighten up a little."

I sigh and wiggle in her arms a little. "Yeah, I know, and you'd think I would be rolling in it and celebrating, but… I don't know, I feel like… I feel weird, vulnerable in a different way. That I might get uncovered if I keep it up and all that recognition and acceptance will be wiped clean and replaced with all those things I started doing this to get away from."

"Well, then you've got nothing to lose right? You've already been at the bottom, now you can only go up!"

"He's worried about falling back down, Yunko," Hikari said, "Look Yuki, sure there's a chance you could lose everything, but this is also your biggest chance to become something. If all you really wanted was to hide in a corner, you wouldn't be here right now."

I slump over onto Hikari with a sigh, "What did I ever do to deserve friends like you? I sometimes wonder how you put up with me."

"Us too," she smirks, "Don't worry, I'm not letting you off easy with anything. I won't let you give up now."

"That's right!" Yunko thrusts her fist in the air in proclamation, "We're in it for the long haul and we're not backing down!"

I shake my head a little at her seemingly endless vigor. Where that girl managed to fit it all was a mystery. "Thanks guys. Now let's break out the snacks and enjoy the armored circus, shall we?"

Hikari grimaces. "Ugh, it might be too painful for me to watch."

Yunko laughs. "Hey I'm all up for it. We better not laugh though. We have to be friends with all these girls."

I open up the turret basket and begin handing out snack bars, apples and ham sandwiches, taking a turkey sandwich for myself and beginning to take bites off. We eat and watch people struggling to grasp tanks for over an hour, though by the time we finish, a lot of them are able to drive without crashing, and a few are even beginning to take their first steps in gunnery. And I manage not to pick up the attention of any more girls either. A success, I'd say.

We gather around Felicita as she calls us to meet around her tank once more as the sun gets low in the sky.

"Today was a success," she proclaims, "And that doesn't mean you were successful. You were the opposite of successful, a total disaster. You bungled tank operation in every conceivable way."

The crowd remains silent. They no doubt want to protest, but after what they'd did none of them can utter a word of protest.

"But that doesn't mean this training was a failure. Nor does it mean you are." She continues, "The fact you all kept learning, trying, and failing, until you succeeded or were in a ditch, means this was a success, because progress towards success was made. Tankery is not an easy sport, and though I may be appalled at your results, I commend your effort. It is worthy of a full course dinner at one of our schools most prestigious restaurants. Your first order will be covered by the team, after that you're on your own."

This news comes with a satisfying applause, as all free food should. We have snacks in us, meaning that one free order, if we ordered the right things, should be able to cover our dinner completely. We begin to head away from the hangars when we hear what sounds like a shitty lawnmower engine, and I look around to see where the source could be, but after having been stuck inside a tank my hearing is not as sharp as it should be, but looking ahead I manage to make out something that is the ugliest shade of green I have ever seen. Unlike the assault gun's loud and obnoxious type of ugly paint scheme however, this thing also seems to have an ugly wedge shape, plus a color that while not as eye burning is definitely far more stomach churning. The thing, for it can hardly be called a vehicle, looks like the stunted child of a cheese wedge and a tricycle. A molded, nasty cheese wedge more like it judging from the color.

Realizing it's coming at me I begin to take a few cautionary steps back, before the thing tries to swerve to avoid me but instead ending up just sending itself tumbling towards me. I bolt for cover frantically with the tumbling retarded cheese wedge in hot pursuit, ending up backed against a fence as it is now slowly tumbling towards me. It stops a meter from me before ceasing its death roll and I just stand there with me mouth agape, still trying to process what I saw and what attacked me.

"Sheesh, someone's got a deathwish!" Yunko exclaims as she runs over to me.

Hikari cries out. "Morons! What were you thinking!"

"I hope nobody got hurt" A sweet looking orange haired girl winces.

"If they have the kind of heads that would justify driving a car with three wheels, I'm sure they're fine." A shorter one with strawberry blonde hair reassured her. One of the people inside knocks on the window, catching attention before rolling it down.

"Oi, could you roll us over, please?" The girl asks in a very different accent.

Yunko sighs. "Well I guess letting all the blood rush to your head won't do you any good." She, the carrot top girl, and one other go over to the car and with a few heaves manage to rock it back onto it's wheels. After a few seconds, the contents of the car get out and start to dust themselves off.

"Fer God's sake, Falkner, perhaps you should try driving something that has all four wheels?" A blonde with pigtails suggests angrily. She is wearing a tan uniform and shorts with some sort of tartan cap on her head.

"And per'aps you should be less of a whiny bitch about it," the driver swears, kicking the dirt with her knee high black leather boots and scratching her dirty blond hair. "I've had my Robin for three years, an' I'm not about to give it up just because you want a smoother ride."

"I thought it was alright, Fall," says another girl, resting her hand on Falkner's black cut off jacket. She seems similar to Felicita's white haired loader in body type, a fairly athletic gal looking as if she was ready to exercise out from the box with her dark green sports bra and black sport shorts. I hear a groan heard and a guy in a dark green boiler suit and baseball cap stretches his back out.

"You're probably just sayin' that because you called my lap as a seat," he grumbles.

"What? You're a comfortable seat, Shaun."

"Yeah and feck off, Tosh," A fourth girl sighs, cleaning her reading glasses on her black t-shirt and turning to the group, her jet black hair jiggling a little as it curled up at her shoulders.

"Thanks for rolling us over. I'm Samantha." She introduces. "The guy here is Shaun, our mechanic, the tomboy is Tosh, the psycho-"

"I'm not psycho, Sam!" Falkner interjects before kneeling next to her car to inspect the damage.

"Right, of course you aren't, because sane people drive Reliant Robins and take corners too fast. As I was saying, that's Falkner. The other one is Brienne."

Felicita has arrived on the scene now and is looking rather cross at them. In fact it's the first time I've seen her show so much emotion, too bad it had to be anger and not something more pleasant.

"Alright, who are you and what are you doing trying to kill my only candidate for a vice commander?" She demands, loud but not yelling, "And which of you is responsible for bringing this blatant safety hazard onto our ship? The life expectancy of all our students decreases every second this thing is onboard."

As she chides them I can't help but feel a little touched, in an odd way. Normally when bad things happen to me people use it as the butt of the joke. Even if her concern for me stemmed from a professional reason it was still concern for me, which was something I hadn't seen outside Yunko, Hikari, or my own family.

"That'd be me, who leads this bunch of loonies." From behind the Reliant Robin, a rather striking redhead walked around and stood in front of Felicita, crossing her arms under her big bust. She wore the same uniform as Brienne, but instead of shorts wore a tartan skirt as well as white stockings, some kind of black bonnet, and red glasses.

"Name's Maggie MacBheatha. Who are you?"

"I am Felicita Yamaguchi, head of this school's student council and commander of the tankery team." Felicita replies, still clearly upset about the whole incident. "I am sorry, but your vehicle will have to remain impounded for the remainder of your stay here as it is far too dangerous to use while onboard."

"Looks more like they did it on purpose," Milly smirks, "Every drive would be an adventure that's for sure."

"You ain't about ta take away my Robin!" Falkner argues. "'Taint my fault that 'e corners like a bastard. There ain't no reason for you to do that you fecking cu-"

"Easy Fall." Maggie cuts her off. "Look, Fellatio, was it?"

"Felicita," The president replies rather curtly.

"Felicita. It's a fecking Reliant Robin. It ain't reliant and it's as pretty to look at as a fat man's arse. It is a shite car, but Falkner somehow manages to keep it on all three wheels 70% of the time, which is amazing considering the number of times she's rolled the bloody thing. Besides," she yawned, "We got here yesterday. Slept in because of the damn time difference and missed out on all the pleasantries, so I told Fall to 'throttle that bugger into high gear and mow down any fecking idiots who get in the way'. We haven't even really unpacked and our stuff's crammed into the boot of the thing. Perhaps you could give us a bit of slack regarding this? It's not like she ran that twat over anyways. Her fault that she didn't run to the side. Vice commander my arse."

"You just robbed yourself of any chance to negotiate for the release of your vehicle," Felicita says, leering at them furiously now. "I was also going to let you take a car from our rental, but now you've managed to convince me I should blacklist you from that as well. As the president of this school, my responsibility is to the safety and well being of my students, and if you are so irresponsible and dangerous as to actually condone your driver running them down to get somewhere faster, then it is my responsibility to keep you as far away from them and any motor transport as possible."

The Scottish redhead pinches her brow. "Do you really think we are so retarded and insane as to actually run over people? Ever heard of sarcasm or hyperboles? Falkner wouldn't have run them over if they did. At most, she'd try to swerve out of the way. She should have slowed down, yes, but perhaps you didn't hear me when I said that we arrived in this fecking country yesterday? The fecking flight from Edinburgh to Tokyo was horrid, and even with sleeping in we're all shattered. We were dozing away and she must'av nearly dozed off herself. You're lucky she just rolled the car and ended up bruising us."

Milly bounds between the two girls and pushes them apart. "Easy now, ladies. Let's not get started off on the wrong foot. Clearly a bad first impression has been made, but let's try not to let this one be the most lasting one. Maybe we should all just take a step back and breathe a little before we make any quick decisions, hmm? Let cooler heads prevail?"

Felicita takes a deep breath and steps back, composing herself. "Yes let's. I think we both need to take a step back, and take this problem with a more professional stance. For now however I wish to celebrate camaraderie amongst the tankery team. We're having a team dinner. If you'll excuse us."

"Wait." Samantha speaks up, walking over to Felicita. "I know that Mags and Fall can be...hot tempered, but it's just their nature. We came all this way from Scotland to Japan to join this school and perhaps take advantage of the tankery program."

"Wait a second," Felicita raises a hand, "You're on the team?" She checks her phone and after a few seconds looks up at them, "You're not on the roster….wait a minute." She pauses, "You wouldn't have happened to be that transfer application from that Scottish academy? I thought that was a prank!"

"Aye, that's us." Sam nods. "Five lasses and our own personal greasemonkey. Thanks for the great first impression by the way. You'd think that if someone gets an application for students from an academy that know what they're doing when it comes to tanks they'd take it seriously even if it is a prank."

"Sam." Shaun rolls his eyes. "We're all a bit on edge. As Mags said, shit flight, barely any sleep."

"WOULD YOU ALL STOW IT?!" The white haired girl from Felicita's team bellows, "I'm hungry and I have a free meal awaiting me. Let's go!"

"Yeah, why don't we all go eat" Milly says. "Let's forget all about this and go have a nice bonding meal together eh? What kind of stuff would you new girls like 'ta eat?"

"We're not haggis people, if that's what you mean," Maggie says, seeming calmer, "Fish, chips, and mushy peas with salt and vinegar, steak and ale pie, meat and potatoes kind of food. Stuff that's simple and hearty."

"Sounds good. I'm part Scottish myself, on Dad's side. Mom was more Ukrainian so I love pierogies too."

The small chatter continues on until we reach the restaurant, a Swedish place in a building shaped like a longboat, with a hearty and jovial atmosphere. The employees are dressed in Viking style battle skirts and heavy battle gear leather tops that are thick but form fitting, and completely exposes their midriff. It seems they were taking a more theme-park type attitude towards the origins of the ships, which we had learned while coming here was once Swedish and had been transferred to Japanese control at some point. One guides us to several tables, all shaped like giant Viking shields, and the others begin to sit.

"Who do you think we should sit with?" I ask Hikari and Yunko.

"Why don't we sit with our fabulous president" Yunko suggests. "You seem to get along with her so well."

"Yeah, you're her clear favorite" Hikari teases.

"N-no I'm not," I reply, "She just appreciates our skills is all. She said so herself."

"Well now you have an opportunity to charm her with your personality too" Yunko winks. "Come one, if you can't act normal now you'll crack when things get really tough."

"This is a good opportunity" Hikari agrees. "You probably won't get to see a girl like that in an informal setting like this. Don't act like you're trying to pick her up, just act like a normal girl."

"In other words act like you usually do, but more confident" Yunko smirks.

Charm her? Were they trying to hook me up with her or something? I look at the table she's at and surprisingly there's still enough room for us. It takes me a little time and a lot of courage but I set myself in the chair across from her and try to look at her. Now that I'm at her table I feel the need to say something. I want to make casual conversation but the only thing I can think to say is.

"Thank you Felicita."

She looks at me curiously, raising a brow, "For what?"

"For uh… For sticking up for me back there. I mean, being concerned about my safety," I say. God I must sound so corny, mushy, and sappy right now, but I feel humbled by her defense of me. Then again, this is likely what normal people did for each other and I am just overreacting to finally being able to live normally. Well….as close as I ever had.

"It wasn't an issue at all," she replies, "I think you're a young lady with a lot of potential, and part of my duties are to help foster the growth of the students around me, help them evolve into strong capable women. By helping them become such I also get closer to that myself."

I can't help but smile a bit at that remark. As hard nosed as she seemed that was actually an awful kind way of looking at her job. And saying I had lots of potential? If only she knew the truth.

"Well then thank you Madame President, I'll be glad to be in your care," I reply, adding a cute tilt of my head along with it. I want to strike up more conversation with her, but I don't know about what she likes and only know a little bit about what she does. Not to mention, even after talking to her, it still felt like a daunting task to talk a little more. As we sit there in silence I can't help but overhear the white haired girl talking to the mechanic of the lot that tried to kill me.

"Hey babe, I noticed you when you rolled out of that car. Tell the truth, I like my boys shaken, not stirred," she says to him with a wink.

"I think that line sounds better when spoken by a Scot," he replies chuckling, "I'm not sure how I like my girls. This lot's the only ones who I know and they're like sisters to me."

"Well it's a good thing I showed up," the tan girl replies, "Because I am the kind of girl every guy wants, so you don't even need to think. And might I say, I absolutely love your clothes, they really bring out your healthy figure."

"Honestly you're not bad yourself. I'm just a greasemonkey who fixes up tanks and cars. Pretty much required to wear this thing. Could tie the top around my waist though."

"Oh, wanting to show a little more skin then?" She wraps an arm around him. "I'm not all that opposed to that. Say, you like movies? I always buy an extra ticket when me and my bestie hit the theatres, 'cause there's always a boy wanting a seat next to me."

"I got a white shirt on under this, so I'm not going to be doing anything wrong I don't think if I do. And yeah, I'm up for movies. When?"

"Shit, one sec. Illaria, what movies are playing at the theatre?" She asks the blue haired girl next to her. She pulls her phone from her pocket and checks something on it, replying.

"Well they're showing 'The Room' at 5:30, 'Titanic' at 5:45, 'Birdemic' at 6:00, 'Casablanca' also at 6:00, 'How to Train Your Dragon 2' at 6:10, 'Woodstock' at 6:15, 'Fury' at 6:45-"

"Fury it is then," the amazonian girl says, "Fuckin great date movie. It's really violent though, so if you ever need to hide," she pats her chest. He laughed at that.

"Lass, I've watched movies just as violent as that plenty of times. I'll be fine."

"Shhhhhhh," she hushes him and pats him on the head, "I know you're trying to be tough, but I understand."

I look away from them and begin looking at my menu as I decide what to get. I've narrowed my choices down to a few menu items, and I look up and catch the eye of a taller fellow across from us. I turn a bit red realizing we made eye contact and bury my face in my menu, hoping he didn't notice. Alas, looking up from my menu after a while he is already over at my table.

"Why hello there, cutie. How you doing?"

I am practically sinking behind my menu now. All the training couldn't prepare me for how positively awkward it was to have a guy trying to attract me, and it was making me all sorts of weird and uncomfortable. My heart beats fast in my chest as I struggled with a response.

"I….I'm good. I...the food here looks….tasty."

"Mmhmm. Not the only thing though that looks good," he winks, "Why don't you come and sit with me, eh? Just for a little while."

I feel embarrassed, helpless. This was almost as bad- no, it was worse, than being mocked by guys as a guy. At least that was normal and didn't carry the undertones this did. I don't respond and look at my menu and hope he'll go away.

Meanwhile Yunko's face was nearly purple as she clamped her hands over her mouth, struggling not to burst out laughing, her forehead nearly touching the table. Hikari looked like a strange mix of high amusement and annoyance.

"Come on, baby." The guy puts a hand on my shoulder. "I like those that play hard to get, you know."

"I-I'm not playing…." I stutter. It had sounded like a decent comeback in my head but it failed muster when spoken. I try to come up with something but he's already making another pass at me before I can think of anything.

"If you'd like I could always give you a couple thousand yen to help sweeten you up."

That line makes my stomach wanna turn as it gives me all the wrong ideas in my head. "Ewww, I'm not that kind of girl," I say, and I slap him away with a smack, though I fail to even redden his cheek with my blow. Weak, as usual. He lets out a chuckle.

"Ehehe. Feisty. Maybe you need something like a hundred thousand? Or are you willing to do it for charity?"

I feel my face burning up and I don't know how to respond. This was too far! Did guys really ask such things of girls in front of other girls? Suddenly I hear the president's voice speak up.

"Sir, are you aware that what you are doing is sexual solicitation, a very high level offense in this school's code of conduct?" She asks sternly. The guy dropped his guard and seemed to have had one too many drinks as the color rushed to his cheeks.

"Oh my. School girls eh? My kind of fetish, ehehe."

What happens next is a blur, Felicita moves so swiftly and I wasn't expecting it to boot. The first movement I was able to identify was her getting out of her seat, then a flurry of action and then she stood above him with her shoe dug into his neck and him groaning on the floor.

"Hello? Is this the morals committee?" She spoke into her phone. Wait, how did she have it out and make the call that fast?

"Yes I have a delinquent that needs handled. We're at the LongBoat Diner. Alright, thank you." She hangs up and and sits back down.

"Ele, hand this ruffian over to the store manager and inform them why he is to be retained until the Morals Committee arrives," she tells the tan girl.

"Right," the muscular girl nods, "We're retaining him for being a douche bag."

The President sighs and shakes her head, "No, we're retaining him for sexual solicitation and possible intoxication."

"So basically, for being a drunk, horny douchebag," the girl called Ele says before dragging him off. I get a little chuckle out of her remark before I catch Felicita, looking at my with the slightest hint of disappointment, but from where I sit it feels like a hell of a lot more disappointed than she lets on visually.

Yunko patted me on the back. "How you holding up hot stuff?"

I groan and rub my head. "Great, just wonderful," I reply, more than a little bitter.

"D-don't worry you just need to lighten up on the makeup maybe," Hikari said.

Yunko laughed. "Yeah I'm sure that's the problem."

I look pretend to look worried, even though I know the makeup isn't the real issue. "Awww, do you think it makes me look skanky?"

Hikari smirked. "Of course not, it makes you look very pretty." Yunko stifled another laugh.

I run a hand through my hair coyly. "T-thanks Hikari. I might tone it down a bit though, seeing as I get so much attention."

I manage to make it through to the end of my meal without attracting any more attention, thankfully. Most of the 'other' girls spend their time chatting, I'm able to make light conversation and get their names, but for the most part, I stay outside the social activity and keep to myself. Finally, at the end of the day, I manage to land in our team's dorm with a heavy thud on my bed. God what a day. I kick my shoes off, then my jacket and my undershirt, followed by my stuffed bra.

"Gaaaaaaaah," I gasp, "Is it always this tough dealing with guys?"

"Only for the pretty girls," Hikari giggled.

I rub my forehead tiredly, "Is that so? I never imagined men could be so intolerable… Well I mean… From a girls perspective. I mean, I figured that since I was always getting the short end of the stick from them when I was a boy, that when I dressed as a girl they'd at least be decent."

"Guess you're just unlucky," Yunko shrugged.

"Look at it this way," Hikari said, "It can only get better from here."

"Isn't that what you said right before we came here?" I sigh, "But maybe you're right." I try to think of something to lift my spirits and Felicita's offer to me earlier sticks out. "Well I guess impressing the president enough to be considered for Vice Captain was a good point. I guess it's a way forward."

"Let's just take it one step at a time and try to roll with the punches. This won't be the last time. I'm sure, pretty girl," she nudged me teasingly.

Pretty girl. Yeah I made a fine one, didn't I? I sigh and pull the covers over me, too exhausted to move once I got settled into the softness of the bed and the sheets. While today had been far from perfect, as I begin to nod off I suppose to myself it was a success. I'd achieved my life dream of being on a real tankery team, people had appreciated me and recognized me for doing that thing I love. A few tipsy jerks shouldn't be too much to handle if it means I can do things like this. Before I know it, consciousness slips me, leaving my thoughts hanging, but not my heart. For now, it's satisfied.


	4. Chapter IV

**|Shaun|**

Well, things could have definitely gone better yesterday. First, Falkner nearly runs one of the other girls over, then Mags almost gets us thrown off the ship. It's only thanks to Sammy that things managed to cool down, and I thought that it would be a good idea to try and be friendly with the first girl who would chat with me. Somehow, when it came time for our team to receive a tank, I was sent to search for one. Our new president however did not seem content letting a male around tanks on his own, and now Ele is my escort, and according to her, date. Now we're browsing a veritable used car lot, or used tank lot as it was, looking for a tank for the lasses back at the school, which wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the fact that the woman won't take five minutes to shut up and catch her breath while I peruse into tanks. Looking at the price tags on most of them though it seems that this was the type of place where your wallet goes to die.

"Well, that makes the count what? Fifteen? Twenty? I'm losing track of how many we're looking through." I sigh, passing a Panzer IV Ausf. G.

"Huh?" Ele looks at me a bit confused, "I don't know, it doesn't matter. I was just getting to the best one, last years championship. It was one hell of a heart pounder lemme tell ya." She says, beginning another tale about a game of hers, this one from volleyball. I roll my eyes and continue on. There's several tanks and shiny new guns. The guns are technically within the limits of the budget that our dear president has given us via a prepaid card, but the tanks they belong to sure as hell aren't. A running Panther costs more than a new BMW, and even a more humble Panzer IV still fetched a high price when armed with the long 75mm. I sigh and move past the collection of guns and call Ele over as I move towards an M4A2 Sherman.

"Ele, come on, next one's up."

She follows me continuing to blather on about her championships and such, stuff that I'm just plain ignoring right now as I approach the American beasty. It's in rather nice shape alright, and it's got the good 76mm gun too. It almost looks hopeful until I see the list price, which receives a hearty 'hell no' from me.

"God, no wonder your school had to settle for such bottom of the barrel tanks," I groan.

She crosses her arms at me and pouts, "Shaun, I am giving you quite possibly the best, most exciting and coolest stories you will ever hear in your life, and you're dipping into busted tanks. What's wrong with you?"

"Sorry, Ele, but we're here to look for a tank for the lasses, and I'm business first, everything else second when it comes to working on their tanks. Why don't you tell me later when we're not preoccupied with stuff? Like why not tonight? We can go over to your place and you can tell me to your heart's content."

Ele groans, "But this is boring. I love tanks as much as the next girl but shopping for more than an hour is too much!" She says, kicking a tank and cringing a little bit, trying her best to not look like it hurt, "Rrrrrggh."

"You alright?" I can't help but walk over to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "That looked like it stung."

She shakes her head, "Nah, I've felt worse from kicking pillows." She claims, her deep voice helping to make her toughness act hold up, "Though maybe you should inspect it and feel for internal bleeding…."She says, leaning down to pull her shoe off.

"I'll do it." I go down on one knee and pull her shoe off, gently cradling her foot in my hand. "It's a little red. Tell me if it hurts." I say as I very gingerly run my fingers over the red area.

"It's not red cause it's damaged," Ele winks at me, "It's cause my foot is blushing."

"Yeah, yeah. Your foot seems to be ok. Still, take it lightly, ok? Don't want you getting hurt more."

"I never get hurt, I only get stronger," She pats her chest, and she winces slightly as she seems to have landed a bit too hard of a blow upon her breast, but she still tries to play it off all cool. I roll my eyes again.

"You want me to kiss it better you'll have to buy me dinner first." I joke as I slide her shoe back on and stand up.

"I was gonna buy it for you anyways," She winks, "Gotta keep that nice shapely body healthy."

"Right."

My eyes look past her and I raise an eyebrow. "Huh. Hey Ele? What kind of tank is that one?"

The vehicle has a rectangular riveted hull and what appears to be bogey type suspension. The tracks are a bit on the narrow side and both the front and rear wheels are sprockets. The flat faced turret houses a stubby, wide bored gun, and the cupola is square as well. In short, it looks like a box on a box on a box.

Ele looks over at it and shrugs, "A boxy one. With lots of bolts on it."

"Think you can walk to that tank? Or do I have to carry you there?"

"You can carry me, but it'll take a hella lot more to keep me from walking," She says, jogging over to it and climbing up on it. It seems to have lost most of it's paint and has a very thin layer of rust giving it an overall brownish appearance. More importantly, the price tag is within our limits. By a large margin in fact.

"It looks different than the others," Ele remarks, "This thing makes a Tiger look curvier than me."

"Huh. It's not in that bad of a condition actually. I think that there should be a small card on it somewhere that says what it is."

As it would have it, it's right in front of us, but in really tiny lettering so I wrap an arm around Ele's waist and leaned in close. "Tur….Turan II?"

I go ahead and read the rest of the cards contents. "_Factory Built Replica. Built 1982, slightly used. Needs new breech block and gunsights, final drives possibly need refurbishing. Mildly worn interior. Fuel tank needs minor patching. Suspension is good but rusty._

Of course I knew from being around tanks long enough the tricks these dealers would pull, and so to me, 'slightly used' meant worn down until they had to mothball it, 'Needs new breech block and gunsights' likely meant the gun was going to need remilled, and 'final drives possibly need refurbishing' was an omen for a complete rebuild. And of course that 'mildly worn interior' meant the seats had all the leather gone and were now metal pans with little shreds of the cushions lingering in them, and to top it all off, the 'fuel tanks needing minor patching' was almost certain to mean that they were so full of holes the school's machine shop should have to mill us new ones or we'd have to buy some. Well, at least they were being predictable used tank salesmen.

"Turan?" Ele taps her chin, wiggling a little into my arm and wrapping her own arm over it, "Sounds Arabish. You think it's an Arab tank?"

"Don't think so. The Middle East didn't invent their own tanks until the 80s, more or less. Still, looks like the best one out of all the other tanks we've seen and it's for a decent price. Think we found the tank we've been looking for." I sigh mentally and decide to surrender to her, holding her slightly closer. "So what now?"

"Now you call your friends and find out if your girlies will like it so we can take this back and we can get this over with!" She throws her arms in the air. I gladly remove my arm from her and take out my cellphone, dialing Maggie who picks up seconds after.

"_Hey Shaun, how's your date going?_"

Ugh…

"Fine Mags. Listen, we found a Turan II. It's the least shite looking tank around for the price and it's a medium tank. That's pretty much all I know about it."

"_Sounds great to me. I'll get Sammy to do some research on it while you're on your way back with it. How long do you think it'll take to fix it up fully?_"

"Honestly? We're going to need to find a hell of a lot of parts or make them ourselves. Two weeks, and that is very, very optimistic."

"_Alrighty, so work your magic and it should be up in one._"

I sighed. "I'm not promising a miracle here but I'll try. See you later."

Hanging up, I looked over to Ele and rummaged around in my pocket. "Now we gotta hand this card over to them and get this hunk of junk back to the school."

"Alright, about time we got outta here" She leans up against me, trying to play it cool, which might have better achieved such an effect if she were the male and I the female.

"So, whatcha thinking about doing now?:

"...I was wondering what you were up to after this and wondered if you wanted to talk more about your accomplishments at your place?" Sometimes I curse myself for trying to be so nice to her. Oh well. Shouldn't be too bad.

"Finally you have come to your senses!" She cries, "Okay, so as I was saying, it was the high school volleyball championship game, right. And they have this really short player, like, I mean, she looked like she could be a grade schooler. Oh and she kinda looks like a dude, but don't tell her I said that cause we became hella tight after the match. She's the one I tried to get past first, but I learned she can jump her own height! It's really freaky to watch! So I try to go for their middle covered by this really big blonde chick, she's as tall as me but not as tan or ripped like I am, in fact she kinda looks more like a model than a volleyball player…." She begins rambling, dragging me along towards the dealer to make the purchase.

* * *

><p><strong>{Felicita}<strong>

My day at work at the student council was initially ordinary and uneventful, having nothing which deserved mention. However, after about an hour on the job, it came to my attention that one of our assistants was not operating at full capacity. Nobody else noticed, and that is not a mark against them for the signs this girl was working below her optimum level were highly subtle, almost undetectable in fact, but I was able to catch some of the small things. She more than once had to make multiple runs to shuttle paperwork back and forth, and when undertaking tasks she would leave out minor nuances or invert steps. Nor was this merely typical behavior of her, as I know all of the members of this council and its helpers and none of them perform with such lethargy and sloppiness without any reason.

I took it upon myself to find the root of the issue, and engaged the girl in discussion, hoping I could settle any issues. What I learned made me entirely content and even somewhat gratified to have struck up conversation with her.

I'm in my office now sitting in my desk, with the girl, enveloped in sobs and sniffles sitting directly across from me. She's a bit taller than me and a measure better in her bodily growth, but despite this she is still a freshman. Her eyes are stained red with tears as she finishes telling me the tale of how her parents have been brought to the brink of divorce.

"And so after your mother had ceased abusing your father she left the home?" I ask to clarify, offering her a tissue. There is a whole stack of used ones beside her already.

She blows her nose into it and nods once she is done, "Yes, that's it. A-And then I heard my Dad calling up this-" She inhales, "-I think it was… It was a legal firm. Yeah it was." She gulps and the bulge is visible in her throat as it travels down, "I don't know what to do, okay, and I'm scared I won't have a family anymore."

Family. It was something that was never an object of question to mine. Mine was what it was and that was that. I had never considered it so valuable though as to be in such a fit though. Perhaps though the value of it to her was more clear when its existence was at stake. Such thoughts as to the incongruencies of our personal paradigms on familial relations were entirely irrelevant of course. What was relevant was that a member of my unit was in need of assistance.

"Umiko, things at the moment may seem turbulent for you." I put a hand on her shoulder. I am told it is something done to calm down someone via physical presence. "But I assure you this crisis will not result in a total loss of your familial structure. I believe that if you stay strong you can provide positive influence to help keep the situation stable."

Umiko sniffles some more and wipes her eyes. "B-But how Madame President? Mom seems so angry nowadays and Dad just seems like he wants to lie down and let whatever happen."

"From what you described to me, your mother is likely in a hostile workplace environment, judging by her behavioral patterns since she made the move to this new job." I explain factually to her, "Thus I believe if you can sway her from this hazardous environment she will be more open to rebuilding her relations with you and your father."

I am no marriage counselor, no. In fact I am just going off total speculation made from the sobs and moans of a crisis stricken teenager. But I feel the need to provide an answer. I feel compelled to provide some logical, clear cut route to victory, even if there isn't one I can make from the information I have on me. One must always make a battle plan, even in the fog of war, where information is only reliable in regards to being late, inaccurate, speculative, and on top of all, unreliable.

Umiko looks up at me now, the tears have stopped flowing for the moment, "You really think so? You really think I could….could help that much?"

I nod affirmatively, "Indeed you can. Your mother has a reliable track record of making her actions in the name of helping you out, is this not correct?"

She nods. "Yes that is true. Ever since I can remember."

"Then lever that, make sure she knows that if she continues this path it will be destructive to you," I say. But as I finish the urge to provide her with assurance which I can actually follow up on arises, and I add, "If worse comes to worse however, as a member of the student council, the rest of us will be there to assist you and give provisions for you in case of a familial fallout."

"Y-You mean you'll help me out if my parents can't?" She asks.

"To the best of our abilities. We may be teens as yourself, but as the exemplary upper echelons of this school, we must do more for our students than others can," I explain, "And that includes helping out those in need such as yourself."

Umiko smiles softly at me. "Thanks madame president. I….I'm sorry I didn't bring this to someone sooner."

I remove my hand from her shoulder, content she has been stabilized. "I understand you feel the need to not let your problems burden others, but if your ability to work and function as a member of this team and as a person degrade due to your issues, you are burdening us with a far heavier burden than what you might have put upon us initially. See the counselor next time please."

"I will madame president! Thanks again, I really needed to get that off my chest," she says standing up and waving to me, heading out the door. As she leaves, I can't help but feel an odd… Premonition of sorts.

"Yoko, Miyuki," I call out to the doorway, "Come on in, I know you're out there." The two girls walk in, Miyuki composed as always but Yoko looked rather sheepish.

"It seemed appropriate to stay out of the room during your talk with Umiko," Miyuki explains, "We might have only interfered."

I nod at them, "I see. How much of the conversation did you hear?"

"Just the last half I think," Yoko said as she put her collection of papers on the table. "I thought you did a good job. It was… Sweet."

I cross my arms over my chest, "I-It was merely what any respectable professional would do. I am not sweet, I am ruthless, calculating and efficient!"

Yoko giggles. "Awww Feli, you're the cutest ruthless and efficient president ever. Looks at how rosey your cheeks are." She pinches those same cheeks playfully and even the prim and proper Miyuki is smirking at my expense.

I cringe a little at Yoko's pinching and growl under my breath. "I am anything but cute. I am imposing and commanding. And now I command you girls to sit down and talk business with me."

Yoko giggles and pats my head. "Okay, okay." She goes over to the table and sits down next to Miyuki, her broad smile still stretching from ear to ear.

I clear my throat and begin, "Anyways, the first thing I would like to discuss is getting the ship back in working order. Are we making any headway?"

Miyuki pushes up her glasses. "We have some of the boilers ready, most of the plumbing and mechanics have been restored; and the hull has been fully inspected. No real problems beyond getting the boilers up and fully functional."

"The real problem lies in keeping it all working once it is," Yoko says, "Even if the girls are trained, they don't have a lot of experience maintaining that machinery."

"Getting this ship running is the only way they'll learn," I sigh, "And of the hull? I assume it checks out structurally?"

"It's holding up pretty well but there are a lot of…." Miyuki paused. "It's basically become a reef. All those plants and animals are going to have to be removed and doing that for a ship as big as this is not easy or cheap. Still, if we substitute most of the work using the Naval Studies students, while simultaneously getting them their hours in submarines, I think we can pull it off without cost overruns."

"Very well," I nod, "I trust your expertise in the area, so make it so. On to other topics of discussion. Yoko, have you found any schools willing to do battle with us in a mock match?"

"Well I managed to get in touch with Corsair Girls High, Cossack Collegiate, and Ortona Girls School."

""Excellent. Did you manage to get a set of times they might be available?"

"Their schedules are pretty flexible, so they're leaving it more up to us, although a lot of them want free concert tickets in return for taking their time to fight us." She grimaces.

I tap my chin thoughtfully, "So I see. Well I suppose giving out a few dozen free concert tickets wouldn't harm our economy too much. Plus, there would be long term gains from the experience actual battle would bring. See if any are interested in battling this Friday and staying for the Saturday concert."

"Will do. I don't think they'll refuse with those free tickets. Speaking of which, how did the NS girls we chose for the team do? They were a bit nervous about it."

I bite my lip softly, "Well….they certainly didn't yield results for a lack of effort. To put it plainly they did struggle, but aside from one unfortunate mishap whilst learning the vehicle controls they performed acceptably in terms of beginners."

Miyuki sighs. "Well they can only get better from that I guess. So what's our next step?"

"Get them into real battles so they can learn and grow in tankery of course," I reply, "Thus our immediate next step is to begin skirmishing other schools like we are planning now. As for in the future… I have looked at this years tournament roster and I don't think we'll be ready to go in time for the nationals."

Yoko shrugs. "Well, no need to worry about it then. I think that might be too much pressure for those girls anyway. Later I might be able to get the paper to start doing some articles on Tankery to help generate more interest."

"Very well then, inform me if we manage to get any coverage. I think that covers the issue of tankery," I say, standing up, "Thank you for your time ladies. You may go about any other business you may have."

Miyuki stands up. "I think that's all I have. I have to go back and check on the restoration and seeing about getting the girls more training."

"I'd better go with her," Yoko says, "I don't have anything else to say except: keep up the good work, madame president." She grins and adds, "You adorable little thing." She giggles and then promptly leaves the room.

Miyuki shakes her head. "She's pushing it. Like always."

I nod curtly, "Indeed she is! Calling her president such things! The nerve!"

"Well at least it's done affectionately. I'll try and convince her to lay off it a bit. But knowing her, I don't think it will do any good. Good day, madame president." She bowed and then left the room with her papers against her chest.

I sit down and let out a soft huff, chiding myself for taking the teasing so childishly and with such impudence. I am better than that, and I certainly don't care what they think of me anyways! Not one bit. All I care about is the work!

* * *

><p>Later, I'm cleaning up my office getting ready to call it a work day, when my phone rings. Noticing it's Yoko, I pick up and answer.<p>

"Hello? What is it Yoko?"

"Just letting you know that Corsair Girls has accepted the invite. They'll be ready on Friday and are looking forward to Saturday's concert."

"Alright, thank you Yoko," I reply, "I will be sure to inform the tankery team. Have a pleasant evening."

"You too." She hangs up. I slip my phone in my pocket as I head back to my dorm, anticipating my first chance to prove our team in battle.

* * *

><p>Now it's the day before the match and I am directing workflow expertly, when I receive one of the many phone calls I am to receive over the course of the day. This one is not from a fellow council member or one of the many students working in support of us, rather, it seems to be from Maggie MacBheatha, the leader of the transfer students from Scotland.<p>

"Hello?" I answer as I hold up the phone my ear.

"_What's this about leaving us out of the upcoming battle, eh?_" She caustically asks, "_I've had Shaun busting his arse since getting our tank getting it fixed up and you decide not to wait until we're ready?_"

I sigh away from the phone. It seems the temper of Scots was far more than just a national stereotype.

"Look, I wanted you there as much as you did, believe me. Our team needs a solid medium tank and a good fighting crew," I explain, "But even disregarding Shaun's efforts, the new breech block and HEAT ammunition still aren't due for another week. And these newer crews need a baptism of fire."

"_...Aye, that is true. We're just eager to be back in the game's all. We've had a rough past year. I cannae say for certain that the other girls'll be as calm about this as I, especially Tosh and Falkner. Particularly Falkner._"

"Try your best to keep them reigned in," I reply, "And we'll do our best to get you your provisions. I suppose an apology for not taking your application seriously is in order, in regards to it being a catalyst for most of what is transpiring. I apologize profusely for the mistake."

"_Tch. It's not the worst that's happened to us. We'll be watching the sport then. Nothing scheduled for us to do anyways. Oh, did ya need us to provide you with a name for us?_"

"If you wish. Currently we are using a numerical system to distinguish between teams, though a name is not forbidden."

"_Cu-Sith. Imagine a wolf the size of a bull, dark green shaggy coat with a long braided tail and paws as wide as a man's hand. It's a harbinger of death in the Highlands; a Hellhound._"

"Well you certainly aren't coming up short on the psychological side of warfare," I remark, "Feel free to use it as your moniker. And do feel free to apply that wonderful mentality of yours towards other forms of intimidation tactics."

"_Will do. Well, better break it to the other lasses. If you see Tosh and her hands are bandaged, it's from her punching something really, really hard, so don't be too freaked out by it. Lass wants to be a bare-knuckle boxer._"

"That's quite the aspiration. Reminds me of my loader. Perhaps they'll meet at some point. I better get going, my life is a busy one."

"_I'll be seeing you later_."

* * *

><p><strong>[Yuki]<strong>

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," Yunko chants at me, "We need to get to the hangar! You're too slow Yuki!"

"Yunko!" I plead as she pushes me along the route to the hangars, "Getting there faster will not make it begin any sooner!"

"But I wanna get there faster anyway!" She whines. "I don't wanna miss anything!"

I don't get what she is up about. It's only a practice match, and we can see the hangars by this point. I point them out to her and shout, "Hey Yunko look, hangars! We're here!"

"It doesn't count unless we're in it and you're not yet!"

Hikari laughed from behind me. "Awww, she's all excited. This'll be our first match after all. You nervous Yuki?"

"About the match?" I ask, "Not really, I mean we seem to have this whole tanking thing down pretty good. But…" I sigh and trail off.

"But you're worried about getting caught? Think you'll end up like Mulan if this all goes south?"

"Yuki's not Chinese" Yunko protested.

"That's not the point Yunko." Hikari sighs.

"It's not getting caught. Well, it partially is, but that fear is in everything I do now, it's not just related to tankery," I tap my fingers together, "It's having expectations. Before nobody believed I could do anything, but now the president thinks I'm the gem of the tankery team. Now I'm worried about living up to standards."

"Just do what I do and turn off your brain," Yunko suggests.

"I think you should try turning it on first," Hikari snipped, "Yuki, just do your best. I have no doubt that we'll do better than all the noobs on our team. If you're still nervous, then ask your precious president for a good-luck kiss."

I laugh softly, "I don't think she's the kind of girl who gives out kisses, but that's a nice thought." Even though I say that, the thought of such enters my head anyways, and I bet my cheeks are rosy too, having seen enough anime. Thankfully, we arrive at the hagars before Yunko's teasing can confirm any blush of mine, and she bolts off to get a front row seat to the upcoming action.

Suddenly, a loud snap from the entrance of the hanger, its sound is cold and crisp as it rings out. I see the president move to find the source and I follow her curiously to see where it leads. Leaning on one of the walls is a figure, dressed in light olive clothing, with what appears to be an outer vest or jacket dangles a bit as she put her arm down. The President approaches her and greets her.

"Hello Ma'am, I am Felicita Yamaguchi representing Sabaton High School. Are you the representative of Corsair Girls High School?" She only smacks her lips and turns her head, medium-length brown hair waving with it. Only giving us a smile as she straightens her posture.

"I don't have time for games," Felicita puts her hands on her hips, "Do we have a match or not?"

All she does is raise her hand, snapping once more and her grin widens even more so. "Depends, are you ready? I've heard your teams were only newly formed." She reaches back into her pockets.

Felicita sighs, "Did you not get the point of this match? We need combat experience. You're here to battle us and provide it, and you'll get those free tickets you wanted."

"I'm sure the others will appreciate the tickets… But, show me your vehicles first, I want to examine your tanks."

The president crosses her arms, a bit miffed at the request it seems but she still gestures them to the Panzer IIs parked in this particular hangar. "Well as you can see here, we have two Panzer II Ausf G light tanks." She takes her through each of the hangars and shows them our lineup, being careful not to let them get too close. I chuckle to myself at this. Felicita sure was paranoid about one girl in full view of the entire team doing something.

"I think that settles it then, we'll match your numbers quite well with our own tanks." The olive clad lass took out a card from her pocket and handed it to her, held between two fingers. "My card if you will."

Felicita takes it and examines it, "Aika Narumi. Nickname Kelly. Lead Commander." She hands the card back, "Well then Kelly, I suppose you brought the rest of your team along with you?"

"Yeah," Ele chimes in, "Would be a shame if you were the only one to get your ticket." Aika turned her head in the direction of the grounds.

"Of course the rest of us are here, they're already out there. Get your Stridvagn warmed up, I want to face it myself." She turned around and started to slowly walk out into the light. "Tell Shimada I said hello."

Felicitia scratches her head, "'I'll do that."

As the the strange commander walks away from us more people begin to arrive at the garage. Once the teams are gathered the president calls us up to a small table outside the hangars where she has a map laid out and begins explaining the battle plans, though only about half of us are actually paying attention.

"Their lineup consists of a Sherman M4A3 with the 76mm main cannon, an M10A1 Wolverine tank destroyer, another Sherman, this one armed with the 75mm shorter barreled gun, and three M2A4 light tanks, armed with light 37mm weapons. Overall they outweigh our firepower, but do not surpass our mobility which is what we must have the most of."

"Shermans aren't exactly known for being slow though" Hikari comments.

"They are compared to us," Yunko jeers, nudging us.

"I believe that we can best employ our assets by having our own light tanks stay away from engaging the Shermans and instead try to engage their scout force to keep their eyes busy, or better yet, destroyed. My vehicle shall use it's superior gun depression to try and engage the Shermans from an ambush position. If we land a hit we can knock at least one out and even the odds."

A hand rises from the back of the crowd and a small voice which sounds strained and nervous speaks up. "Uh… Madame Felicita President Ma'am, what will we be doing?"

Felicita peers into the crowd trying to spot who spoke. "Who is that? Speak up will you?"

This time the voice comes back a little louder, "I-It's the Naval Studies team. W-what would you like us to do?"

"Stay along one of the main pathways and stay in bushes and other cover. Stay concealed… As best as your… Ahem… Colorings will allow. We'll direct you to ambush spots as it becomes viable" She gestures back to the map. "Our training grounds are an 800 by 2100 meter zone. Be careful not to fall off the side. Any more questions?"

"Any idea what their fighting style is like?" Hikari asks.

"They seem to draw their tactics from aircraft since this is a school more famous for its aviation program. The Corsair in their name refers to the US World War Two aircraft which is their plane of choice for the bulk of their aerial forces. They thus operate focusing on keeping formation and maintaining tight discipline among squadrons much as an aerial force would."

"So they're basically gonna try staying together? How are we gonna use our tactics if we can't separate them?"

"We'll try to engage each of them separately and force them to draw apart. They cannot stay together if we engage them all from different angles."

"What if they just form a defensive circle," Illaria points out, "Like a herd of buffalo?"

"Then we'll encircle them and pick them off firing from cover," Felicita answered, "But a school which bases its doctrines on aircraft is unlikely to employ static defense. Aircraft can't stop without landing. Any more questions?"

There is a silence among us and Felicita rolls the map up. "In that case get to your vehicles and follow me to the starting point."

"Well this is it," I say as we climb into the BT-7, "This is our chance to show what we're worth. I think I'm getting butterflies again." And indeed I am, I feel my stomach tingling with excitement. My lifelong dream of fighting in tanks was finally here. We weren't just driving the BT-7 anymore, we were taking her out to battle, a fiery waltz of shells, dirt and steel.

"I hope we can at least put up a fight," Hikari says, "Speaking for the whole team, that is."

"As long as we do well, everything's fine" Yunko laughs from the drivers position.

I grin a little as I feel the engine surge to life. My whole life, I had been told a boy in a tank was so wrong, and this just felt too right for words.

"Alright! Yunko, let's a gooo!" I shout, then sigh, realizing that sounded far too cheesy, "Alright, that sounds dumb. We're going to need to work on a catch phrase."

**{Illaria}**

I make sure my glasses are secure on my face for the tenth or so time today as I start the engine. My heart skips a beat as the power source comes to life, rumbling our little bobblehead tank. This was too cool! Getting to drive a real piece of Swedish history, on top of getting to meet all sorts of new people. It's all so new and exciting for me!

"So uh….are we going to say something cool before we move out?" Ele, my ever faithful, if somewhat airy headed best friend, says, "Like a lot of schools have a battle cry they say before moving out, and we can't be left out of the cool kids club. We are the fucking cool kids club!"

Our commander and president Felicita taps her chin in thought. "Well if my Swedish skills are correct, some of the more classical Swedish battle cries would be 'För Svea Rike' and 'För Kung och Fosterland!'."

"The first one has a nice ring," Ele remarks, "What do you think Lari-chan?"

I smile a bit at her continued use of our childhood monikers for each other. "Well if I recall correctly, the Swedish Army often refrained from battle cries to maintain stealth. This and other practices earned them a reputation as demons among the Russians, for their silent attacks from the fog."

"So our cool battlecry…" Ele scratches her head, "Is having no battle cry at all cause that's scarier? Fuck, I like it!"

"In such a case I shall move our forces out with a simple command," Felicita says, picking up the radio and switching to a universal frequency, "Framat!"

**(Flanders)**

"How do I-" I stared at the map intensely, unable to decipher it. "I can't read this, I give up." Crumpling up the map and tossing it back into the crew compartment, I leaned back.

"Flanders… You didn't have to do that," My driver, Lux, uttered out the words quietly. She was too shy for her own good.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, not like we need a map when we have our leader to follow." I looked through the gunner's sight and watched the rear of Eureka's Panzer II. "Just keep on her and we'll be fine, it's not like she can't read a map either."

**Komo**

I stared at the map and all it's oddly shaped circles with numbers and was some kind of colour coded. I couldn't fathom it at all and could just barely make out where the roads were.

"Were you able to make sense of that map?" Rei asks from the driver's position. "I'm just following the other small tanks in front of us."

I stand up and look through the top hatch, watching the grey clad tanks in front of us and I was more than a little irked that I couldn't read the map but they seemed to be able to. Our own blue 14TP, which Rei was already calling 'Genie', was easily keeping pace with them, so I didn't think we'd have trouble keeping up with them and I certainly didn't think Rei was any less capable a driver, certainly better at that then I was at map reading.

"If they're going to the same place we are then just follow them. I'll try to figure out where the enemies might come from."

"Is it right to call them enemies when this is just a sport?"

"It's based on war, so it's the same thing. Try and take this seriously, Rei."

"Sorry," she replied weakly.

I sighed inwardly. I didn't like to berate her, especially when she was my dearest companion. I had a bad habit of taking my anger and frustration out on her and I hated that. "Well, let's keep going. Things should still turn out okay."

**(Eureka)**

"So how do I?" I turned map around and with different angles. It wasn't like the help inside the tank was helping me either. All I could really make out was that there grass, roads and trees, very helpful if I needed to paint. "Screw it, Eclair, we're winging it."

"Improv? I like it, fun times too!" I could hear the giddie in her voice, it only slightly highered the pitch. No doubt about it, Eclair was an escaped insane asylum prisoner and I was friends with her. I'm surprised we haven't crashed or died ever since she took up the wheel.

Suddenly, there was a loud screech that occurred behind us, I took a look behind us from the turret. Oh boy, this wasn't good, the 14TP accompanying us rolled over and died. There were plumes of smoke blowing from the engine. No matter, we had to keep going, with them or not, we were recon after all.

"Yes, fun times, we'll see what happens when we get to it I suppose." I set aside the hatch from my hand and looked out into the open in front of us. We were coming up on some foliage, somewhat thick at least, it appeared to border a road. "Into the brush, stop in it though, we don't need to move any further."

"Yes ma'am~!" We parked in the brush, hiding in it, the bushes slightly pushed aside. I watched the horizon, there was quite a bit of dirt being kicked up in the distance. It was clear where the enemy team was, there weren't any of our own tanks out there.

"Recee to Main, I think we found our friends, the Corsairs."

"Good work," Felicita's voice comes over the radio, "You're a bit early but I suppose that means you must have done an extra sharp job on reconnaissance. Now just stay hidden and report their position until we have the ambush set up."

Hehe, I always like to have praise about myself, I practically live on it. Except, I don't, which means everything I just thought was invalid. Apparently, I was so full of myself that I tried to pull my leg up to get out onto the turret and relax.

But, knowing my luck, it just so happened that my foot knocked into the firing mechanism. What do you know, it sent a 20mm round, not even armor piercing, it was tracers for firing guidance. It flung out into the open, its green glow for all to see and its firing sound echoing. "Oh shi-" I quickly ducked back into the turret and signaled Eclair to get us out of here.

As if that wasn't enough, looking out one of our viewports I see the 14TP come roaring back, their voices announcing their triumphant return over the radio, which quickly turns sour as they ram into the back of Flander's tank and shove it out into the open, where it is greeted by a hail of near misses from the Corsairs guns.

"Oh for-" I calmed myself I ordered the others to reorganize, hoping we could salvage we left we had of the plan. "Recee to Main, we've been foiled, you think we could place the ambush elsewhere?"

There is a short pause before we get a response, "You've been detected? We'll move the ambush up closer to you, try to keep them busy for now, but don't go risking yourselves."

Risk? Oh boy, that's the last word you say around Flanders, having her around puts everyone at risk. As long as she doesn't get pissed off, we should all come back in one piece. But there's always that one thing, and by one thing, I meant a barrage of rounds flying over our heads.

"Keep the tank steady, Eclair!"

"Steady? If anything, you should steady yourself, friend." Again, I don't understand that girl, at all to be honest. Our Panzer II was skipping over the grass, pursued by at least a detachment size of tanks. I wasn't sure how much longer it would last, not our safety, Flander's temper of course.

"Balls to this!" Then, I just heard the demon, no, devil break loose from Flander's voice. I took a look outside the tank and back at her tank. It veered off its path, no doubt a scared Lux doing what she said.

It came to a complete turn and began to charge down the formation behind us, firing their main cannon all the way. "Keep moving guys." Once Flanders gets started, there's no stopping her at all. They directly slammed themselves into the M10, god forbid the black magic she uses to get them there.

It certainly stopped it as they rotated the turret and pumped a M2 with shells before being knocked out themselves by a shot from the M10 they were facehugging. Naturally, I turned off the radio for a moment, expecting Flanders to make her 'report' as usual.

**[Yuki]**

I take a look at our map as we arrive at the next road junction, and from my notes on Felicita's battle plan am able to discern that we should go right at this for to get to our intended position. I give Yunko a gentle tap on the right shoulder and the tank shifts that way and begins to move.

"Looks like we're making good time," I remark to Hikari as we tread along the dirt path, "I hope everyone else didn't wreck their tanks already."

"They've gotten better since we first started. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to teach them any soft skills. Hope they can read the maps."

"Yeah…." I pop the hatch open look around to do a quick spotting check. Nothing at the moment. Just then, my radio crackles to life.

"Yuki!" Comes the voice of the president over the radio, "Yuki pick up, we have a problem!"

I pick up the mouthpiece and speak in return, "Miss Yamaguchi? What's the matter?"

"The other elements of our light force have been spotted and have enemy units in pursuit!" She informs me. I shake my head a bit.

"How did that happen?" I ask slightly frantically. But seriously, this was home turf, on top of all of them being in small, hard to spot tanks. How the hell did they manage that so quickly?

"I'm still working on discerning that!" She replies hastily, "At the moment though I want you to move in and try to interfere, draw some of their units off our forces."

"Well where are they?" I ask back.

"Not entirely sure, but it's a small area. Try- Hold one a second," she says, the radio going out for a quick moment, "From what they're saying I'd say try moving to sector G7 where the bridge is to catch them."

"Will do Madame President, over and out." I say and hang up.

"Alright guys, time to make something of ourselves!" I cry, "Yunko, full speed ahead!" I yell adding a foot command for hard left to put us on track to the designated area. The BT-7 lurches as all 450 horsepower kicks in and the delightful little light tank begins accelerating towards its top speed, the bumps we travel over thrashing us harder with every second we spend accelerating.

"So gung ho after one call from your precious president?" Hikari asks with a coy smirk.

"Hikari, this is a chance to be accepted, to make a critical difference!" I tell her, "I mean, practice is good and all but this is our first real fight!"

She laughs and punches me lightly in the shoulder. "Relax Yuki, I was just teasin ya. C'mon, let's show em all what we're made of!"

Within a few minutes we come over a hilltop overlooking the bridge Felicita directed us to. Sure enough, 2 M2A4 light tanks and an M10 tank destroyer are hot in pursuit of our Panzer IIs and 14TP. No, make that Panzer II, singular, as the other one is missing. I assume it was destroyed, given what I had learned about its commander.

"Hikari, fire three shots, 2 seconds between firing. Aim for their M10."

Hikari aims for the side of the turret on the M10, hoping to at least shake up the crew if they couldn't penetrate the armour from this distance. She pulls the firing lever and our little tank sneezes a 45mm shell out of it's stubby cannon and two seconds later once she reloads the gun, she fires again. The first shell falls low and glanced the front fender, but the second is a direct impact on the side of the turret. Closer up and it might have penetrated, but as it is, it just detonates before a full penetration. The smoke from the tiny shell doesn't take long to clear, and when it does the M10 has came to a stop and I'm looking down the barrel of the 75mm AT gun via my stubby periscope. The two other enemy tanks and our allies are gone, having sped away in their high speed chase.

"Yunko, get us off this hill!" I order at the top of my lungs. Yunko slams the tank into full reverse and slides the tank backwards and down the opposite slope as a shells whistles over us.

"Alright, we got their attention, now let's see if we can't bring that hulking thing down," I yell, "Hikari, hold your fire until we get a flat shot at their rear. Yunko, see that little dip in the hill? Go through that and once we're exposed to them again I want you to weave as much as possible."

"Nothin' easier," She yells back. She guns the throttle and sprints the tiny tank through the small notch in the hillside and then waited a few tense heartbeats before yanking it into a sharp left turn. A shell slams into the earth where we had been a second before and she keep weaving and dodging, avoiding fire as we close in on them.

Soon we are able to avoid the gun, as the M10's notoriously slow turret traverse prevents them from tracking us close in. We managed to slip behind them as we close to under 50 meters but we have to keep moving to stay behind them as they try to turn their hull to aid in their turret traverse. Their turret is halfway in it's turn to bear on us when we finally get a flat angle shot on their rear.

Hikari takes a deep breath and fires once more, planting a shot square into the engine compartment. The tiny shell makes a small flash in the back of the tank, and a small white flag pops up next to the gun holder on the back "We got it!" She cries.

"That's one down!" I hi five her with a huge grin. Alright, we'd evened the odds a little.

"Let's keep it up," I tell Hikari, "Let's see if we can't catch back up with the others, hopefully they're doing better now that we've got some of the pressure off them."

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued... Dun Dun Dun!<strong>


	5. Chapter V

**~Dakota~**

I peer down the stubby wubby commander's periscope watching for the enemy tanks to come into view. We're sitting in some nice bushes atop a hill overlooking one of the roads, and if the baddies are headed where Feli says they are, we should be able to shoot them in a little bit. From what I can gather, our scouts didn't do the bestest job they could have and got spotted, and are now being chased. But I'm confident we can win, after all, if you don't have faith, what do ya have?

I look at our tank, or to be perfectly correct, tank destroyer- ours is a Semovente 75/46, which is like the more famous Semovente 75/18, but with a better gun that brings it closer to the StuG in terms of firepower. While we're waiting I giggle a bit at the paint. A lot of people complain about it, but I think it's bright and happy, for a bright and happy tank. Everyone also says that it'll get us all knocked out really quickly, but I have been trying to tell them that it actually makes us harder to hit.

You see, dazzle camouflage originated on ships, and was used to defeat stereoscopic range finding by breaking up the outline of the ship. That's because stereoscopic rangefinding works by identifying important parts of the ship, such as the hull, citadel, and mast, and comparing how big they are in the scope with how big they really are. A little math later and you have the range. Dazzle camouflage makes it hard to identify critical elements of a ship because it breaks up the outline, making stereoscopic range finding unreliable. After a bit of research, and a disastrous attempt at WT Ground Realistic battles, I learned tanks use this same method of acquiring range to target.

Thus it stands to reason that if this method of defeating enemy gunsights worked at sea, it will work on land. I giggle girlishly and rub my hands together excitedly, kicking my feet happily, or as much as I can in the confined space of the little tank. Just the thought of my first tank battle was giving me goosebumps and butterflies.

"So are they coming?" Milly asks from the driver's position. "I'm still not too crazy about getting shot at."

"I don't see them," I reply, popping the hatch open and switching to binoculars. As I scan the horizon, I see trees being knocked over! Either a horde of angry tree murderers are attacking, or there are tanks trying to take a shortcut.

"Tilly, tell Feli that someone is either murdering poor innocent trees for no reason, or the enemy is taking a shortcut through the," I look at my map, and reference it with what I see, "Forest behind hill B9."

Tilly nervously fumbles with the radio set and manages to get Feli's signal, relaying the message in her squeaky, mousy voice. She's shaking a little, because even though it's all just a fun little game, her body thinks it's like war, because human instinct associates big guns with war. Luckily I've played enough games that I'm not subject to such jitters.

"Milly could you turn us a weeee bit to the left. I think they'll be coming from there."

Milly turns the tank slightly to the left with a jerk. She's improved but she still hasn't mastered the driving of the Semovente. "Is this enough?"

"That'll do," I reply. Milly is such a nice and fun girl. She alway gives out lots of hugs and is always trying to help me overcome my shyness problem. I follow the collapsing trees and through my binocs I can see the tippy top of the tanks poking out over the small hill line occasionally. Really it was more ridge than hill.

I hop behind the gun sight just as they're about to come into full view. I see a tank pop out and I grip the trigger, and the little pointy nosed AP round scurries off towards the tank, and the gun makes a really really loud noise. It shakes me and makes my bonies rattle and jiggle. I look through my periscope excitedly to see if it has hit and then realize that I just shot at one of our tanks. In fact it looks to be the only one left of our scouts, a sole Panzer II. Thankfully the shot misses, and I hear Tilly grunt softly as another little shell gets nestled happily in the breech which closes with a clunk.

I look for the enemy and sure enough they're now in front of me, behind our own tanks. I hear Feli's tank beside us fire and one of their cute little M2 Lights shudders with an explosion, coming to a halt, it's depressed gun making the poor thing look rather sad about being KOed. I try to put down the other tank of theirs but I miss once more, but the shell is so close the dirt from the ground impact splatters them.

"Woo! We got one!" I clap and giggle. This was fun. Sure we were off to a bad start, but we were fighting back.

"Alright, we're already doing better than our training!" Milly yells excitedly. "C'mon, who's next?"

Tilly puts in another AP shell into the breech, now looking less scared and more just nervous, though now she at least seems to be okay with loading. Maybe she focuses on that to keep the things out of her head that would normally be scary for her.

Just as I go back to hanging outside the hatch to spot things, a shell wooshes over my head and I nearly leap all the way outside the tank I leap so much, yelping like a scared puppy. My heart races and goes thumpy thump really fast and I try to look around for where it came from. Over on our right flank, which is mostly occupied by part of the same hill we were on. Their two Shermans were now 200 yards away and shooting at us!

"Milly! Right right riiiiiight!" I wail. Suddenly, this was a lot scarier and my mind is a blurry blur of scared jumbleness! Milly yanks the machine to the right and then there's a loud banging and a sound like nails being thrown against steel.

"The tank's started turning all weird!" Milly reported. "I think something broke!"

I lean outside to see what's wrong and I spy with my little eye; pieces of our track scattered on the ground outside! We were tracked , immobilized, kaputt! Oh and the woe of it was with our 50% crew there was no way we'd repair in time. I'm shaking from the scariness and fear and Tilly behind us is cowering, curled up into a ball like a rolly polly bug. Our tank shudders and there is huge bang that makes my ears feel like there going to bleed and my bones feel like they're going to break. I curl up and close my eyes, waiting for the scaries to leave.

"Ah, we've been taken out." I hear Milly say. There's a moment when I hear her say nothing and then I feel little hands gently take my head and then put it against big soft warm pillows. Opening my eyes I can see little Tilly's face just inches from mine, her eyes shut tight and nuzzling against her pillow. "Relax girls" Milly says gently. "The scary part is over, you're okay." Milly is holding our heads against her big and soft chest, which is way bigger and softer than the other girls in our grade. Her chest is like soft happy pillows to lay on like we are now, and she's now comforting us, rubbing our backs with her tiny hands.

I sniffle a little as I look up at her. My heart calms down and my breathing slows. Milly was the closest thing we had to a big sister we had out here and she always knew how to make us calm.

"I guess things didn't work like we'd hoped huh?"

Milly pets my cheek. "Don't worry Kota. We got a kill didn't we? Considering how noobish we are I think that's pretty good right?"

"Wel...it wasn't our kill per se…" I point out, "But considering I hear some teams actually teamkill or don't even get one kill on their first time...well I guess we could have done worse."

I fidget a little, feeling something odd. It's down between my legs, wet and getting cold, and then I begin to turn red as I realize what's happened.

"M-Milly," I whisper softly.

"What's up Kota?"

"I…..I uh….I had…" I whisper meekly, "My problem happened."

Milly sighed. "Was it because you were scared or was it your hair again?"

"I was scared," I whimper softly. Sometimes….when I get scared, I sometimes have…..potty issues. I've had them since I can remember. It's haunted me all through roller coasters, haunted houses and minecraft. "I….I need some new overalls and panties."

She pats my head again. "It's normal when you're scared Kota, trust me. You'll have to wait a while for new clothes though. We have to get picked up still. You okay Tilly?" Tilly just nods into Milly's fluffy chest cushion and snuggles against her contently, flinching with each loud noise coming from outside.

* * *

><p><strong>{Felicita}<strong>

I duck down in my cupola as the Semovente is hit, going up in smoke. Our turret is halfway traversed to the two incoming medium tanks and I slip into the gunners seat to begin aiming. The split second the crosshairs pass over the trailing Sherman, the one with the 75mm gun, I fire. I don't wait to see the results, I simply yell into my mic.

"Illaria, back full!"

The tank lurches and we manage to sideslip a 76mm shell from the second Sherman.

"Now full right, we're gonna escape right past them!"

The tank skids in place as it make a hard spin to the right in the reverse gear. Once it's pointed at the enemy I give order for full ahead, and we lunge at them at high velocity. A shot grazes our turret, jostling us as we zoom past them. We manage to make it to the end of the hill and into the woods at the base of the hill. We've escaped for now.

I pick up the radio and message all our vehicles in operation.

"Everyone, status report."

* * *

><p><strong>(Eureka)<strong>

"Hehehe, Feli, buddy, we're doing just fi-" I hear the booming of a 37mm gun outside of our tank. Obviously the M2 firing OTM on us, to little effect to be honest. "-we're doing just fine."

"Where are you and are you still in contact with the enemy?" She asks us.

"Uh..uh..we're doing just fine, all you need to know." I smile, like it has effect in my statement, more cannon fire coming from behind us. "Just, just do your stuff and we'll do our stuff."

"Look, you are wasting precious time, now give me an actual status report, or I'll replace all your ammunition with high explosive." She says tersely.

"Oh, oh boy, mmm, how do I explain this...we're...kinda screwed over where we are…"

"Look, what enemy units are you dealing with and what is your approximate location?"

"I don't think that really matters, they're going to close the distance and I really doubt that knowing any of this information will help our case, cutting comms." Quickly, I switch the frequency and think to myself.

If this is how things are going to end, then at least I can go out in a blaze of glory. Then it hits me, I've used this maneuver enough in Ace Combat to know it has a 60% chance of working. "Hey, Eclair, can you try the Joker's Gambit?"

She looks back at me with distress, she and I both knew what this move was. Put quite simply, it was among riskiest moves in the book, barring suicidal or vehicle endangering antics. Then she looks back at the steering device, obviously thinking to herself. "Okay then, let's do it."

The Joker's Gambit is simple enough, Eclair took to the brakes of the tank, yanking them hard back with every bit of strength she had. It slows us down immediately, and we hope to honest jebus that it works. It works alright, it worked so well that we were pitted over to the side by the M2 behind us.

"Balls, balls, balls, balls." I panic, turning the turret as soon as I can while Eclair assesses the damage caused by collision. The M2 is turning around to meet us, I can see it from the gunners sight. I quickly go payday on the trigger, firing as much as I can on our approaching fate.

But I fire that gun so rapidly, that through the poor state of it, and possibly the universe hating our guts, it decides to jam on me. "Balls, balls, balls." The M2 makes a sharp turn around us, slightly drifting as it rounds about, ending up behind us and taking one final shot. The tiny shell hardly shakes us at the impact, yet we feel it nonetheless.

"Hey, Feli… Buddy… Yeah we're kinda… Um… Knocked out." Lesson learned, don't use moves that only work in video games.

* * *

><p><strong>{Felicita}<strong>

I sigh somewhat dejectedly as I get the news that Eureka and her group had been knocked out. Our fleeting numerical advantage was gone. But we were still on even ground, as our fighting force was still on par with the enemies. If we could just take out their Sherman we would have this one.

"Yuki," I speak into the radio, "Where are you and what is your status?"

"We're," She pauses for a second, "We're at the north edge of the southeast forest. We have not been detected by any surviving opposing units."

"Alright, good. Stay hidden and try to move up and sweep the forest. If it is needed for maintaining stealth, use on foot recon."

"Will do Ma'am. Over and out." She hangs up and I speak into my own mic.

"Illaria. take us to the West edge of the Southeast forest." I order, and the tank moves under us with a rumble.

* * *

><p><strong>[Yuki]<strong>

"Alright, you heard the president," I say as I hang up the mouthpiece on the radio, "Yunko, bring us into the forest as quietly as you can. Don't rev up the engine and avoid trees as best you can."

"You really think they'll be able to hear our engine over theirs?" Yunko asks as she moves the BT-7 into the forest. "I'd rather go through faster and try to avoid getting shot. They'll notice the dust before anything else."

"The ground is fairly solid and earthy," I say, leaning out of my hatch to see if we're creating a dust trail, "If we go slower, we can avoid having as noticeable of a dust trail in the first place. I also don't wanna best this tank up moving down trees at high speed, or worse, risking injury to you guys hitting a tree we can't mow down."

Yunko says nothing, but Hikari pats my shoulder. "Look at you, acting like a big brave commander all of a sudden."

I fidget a little and grin sheepishly, "You really think so? Do I really seem commander like?"

"You sure do. To be honest we expected you to be hiding under us instead of commanding us like you're supposed to." She punches my shoulder playfully.

I laugh and rub the affected area. "I kinda expected to be hiding myself," I am about to continue when I notice something out of the corner of my eye. "Yunko, stop the tank!" I order.

Yunko stops the tank and Hikari looks at me. "What's going on?"

"Over there," I hunkered down to maintain a low profile and guide her view to something tall, green, and metallic, some three or four hundred meters away.

"It's a Sherman!" She all but screamed. "We can't fight that thing! This isn't a Tiger!"

"Calm down Hikari," I say, looking at it through my periscope, "It's back is towards us and we aren't spotted. If we can take them by surprise a single shot into the back will do the same as it did to the M10."

Hikari calms down and sighs. "Okay, it's worth a shot. It's not like our lives are actually on the line. Do you want me to shoot it now then?"

"Make sure to stereoscope them for an accurate shot, but yes. We have enough penetration for their rear out to 500 meters, they look about four or three hundred out. I'm guessing 325."

"Still doesn't mean it's much easier to aim." Hikari mutters as she aims down the scope. "Firing." She pulls the trigger and tank jolts as the shell bursts from the barrel and streaks towards the Sherman, and then suddenly a blur and flash, and an impact that shakes our tank. Something had come out between our shell and the Sherman and taken the hit. I hope it isn't one of ours. As the smoke clears we see that it is an M2 light tank that we've hit.

"Damnit," I curse, "Yunko get us out of here, this ambush is busted."

Yunko slamms the tank in reverse and tries to put as many trees between us and the Sherman but nothing is happening. "The engine's cut out! I can't start it up again!"

I pop out of my hatch and look around the tank to see what might be wrong, and my heart sinks as a little white flag tells me exactly what's up.

"We've been taken out." I sigh as I settle back into the commander's seat, "The little bugger must have shot us when he cut in front of us. Well at least we got em," I sigh, slumping over a bit.

"Well shit" Yunko muttered. "Getting a shot like that on the move. The bitches must have known right where we were."

Hikari sighed. "Well, we tried at least. Don't know how they hit us, I didn't even feel or hear it."

"Must be the tiny gun," I laugh weakly, "Hardly can feel it. Like a little needle prick."

Hikari shrugged. "Well it's not like we expected to win. Hope the prez is okay."

"Speaking of which I should probably tell her about our… Status," I sigh and pick up the radio. "Yeah, Felicita, we're kind of out of commission."

* * *

><p><strong>-Kelly-<strong>

"-and we're out!" Comes the message from our last M2. Personally I feel my heart race to unprecedented levels. Who would've thought, such a small school and suddenly I am sitting on the edge of my seat. I turn off the radio, who needs it at this point anyways? I can't wait for what will happen next.

"What do we do now?" Alice, my gunner, looks up and asked me.

"We do what we're good at, we finish the job nice and quick, we may have one tank, but they too have one tank, you can tell by how cautious they are." I felt the edge of the turret hatch and pulled myself up, a breeze blew by. I could feel my hair blowing in it, flowing outwards from under my helmet.

"Well then, let's get to it." Another crew member, Anna, responds to my actions. There was one lone tank left after the chaos. If I recalled correctly, a Stridsvagn 74, post-war tank passed by with evidence and argument that it could have been constructed with War Era assets. Personally I felt no harm in it, it's another challenge to overcome.

Just then, the large headed top of the Swedish tank comes around the corner of a hill nearby us, the vehicle coming to a quick stop. The L/56.5 Kanon 74 flashes and makes a loud boom, the snapshot failing and sending the high velocity shell over our heads.

"Thar she blows, nice and easy, straight up at them!" Our M4A3 Sherman lurches forward with tremendous force and speed as it starts to accelerate. There is no hesitation, Alice starts to fire on them, I can feel and see every shot she takes at them.

But we can't waste our ammo any longer than this, we have seen too much action to simply put it all away. "Marie, put the tank up to maximum speed, we're going on the offensive harder than before."

**{Felicita}**

"They're coming right at us." Ele reports, having made this observation via her target acquisition periscope. I sigh at the rather obvious nature of her report, as I was not blind and I had a cupola to make these observations with myself. At least she had good intentions.

"Illaria," I command, "Full speed ahead. We're going to settle this right now. Whoever hits wins!"

The tank begins to move forward to meet their charge and our vehicles meet at a rapid pace. I try to fire a snapshot at their turret but it barely grazes them, doing them no harm. We pass by their left side, which from our perspective is the right side of our tank.

"Illaria, hard left!" I yell and the tank twists underneath us and I rotate the turret, trying to get a side shot before they could turn to meet us.

**-Kelly-**

"Crafty little…Marie, easy on the throttle, we have to outrun that turret without over shooting them." The Sherman takes a right, right towards the direction of their turret movement, with that we managed to stall the turning, as they have to move the other direction now.

Now it came down to whether or not either of us could get a shot in, either of our guns could knock each other out in an instant. "Marie, get us behind them the best you can, Alice and Anna, you just get that gun going!"

The Sherman takes another sharp turn, hoping to yet confuse the turret controller again by changing our turning radius and speed/distance to them. Hopefully, with this sort of maneuver, we can tire them out.

**{Felicita}**

"So they want to get behind us huh?" I growl. "Fine, let them get right cozy Illaria, back full."

The gearbox clunks as we shift into the reverse gear and speed backwards to intercept the Sherman attempting to get at out soft rear. God knows why, when they just had to hit us to knock us out, even our front was vulnerable to their regular AP! We manage to hit them by backing into them and our huge turret acts as a block to the training of their gun on us.

"I'd like to see them writhe their way out of this predicament." I say with satisfaction.

**-Kelly-**

"Smart girl!" They are no pushovers, knowing their way around this tank quite well, at least compared to their companions. But there is a rather severe problem at with such a move, since there is no way the Stridsvagn's turret could get to fire, between its size and the Sherman's own turret, they can't fully traverse to fire.

"But you've put yourself into your own doom! Marie! Shove them out of our way!" Our M4A3 Sherman has more horsepower, better power-weight and weighed more than their Stridvagn 74. Using this to our advantage, we start to move the tank ourselves, traversing ours to the side to push them out.

**{Felicita}**

As the Sherman begins to push us out of the way I can't help but notice Ele pressing herself forcefully against the side of the turret.

"Gah! Come help me push them back! We can beat them with raw willpower!"

Illaria grunts as she works the controls trying to push them back, "Nice idea….agh...but not entirely plausible….Ele."

**-Kelly-**

I watch as the Swedish tank struggles fiercely against our advance, but all the willpower in the world would not save them from our heavier, more powerful vehicle. I point my hand and point it like a gun, thumb up. "Alice...finish them off." I closed one eye and trailed our gun barrel.

There is just barely enough room for it to fit, being a 76mm gun and all. "Ready to fire." I close down my thumb at the same time Alice presses down on her solenoid. I make a little sound as our gun fired.

"Pew."

In contrast to our Shermans loud. "BOOM!" With that, it's all over, dust and smoke, ash and char in the rear of the Stridsvagn's turret. The deed is done, Corsairs have won another match, easy enough I suppose.

**{Felicita}**

The direct, solid impact of their shell into our vehicle rings in my ears like a funeral dirge. My heart becomes leaden and heavy, sinking to the deepest fathoms as the realization of my failure creeps over me. I have to summon a great deal of willpower to pull myself together. It's not that I couldn't handle failure, rather that it comes to me as a heavy burden which proves difficult to manage internally.

I take solace in the fact that the match had, as intended, provided a learning experience to our forces. No amount of training or mock duels between us could hold a candle to facing a real foe on the field of battle, and the knowledge I have done something good for our unit, our team, lifts my spirits back to an acceptably good state.

Soon enough a Volvo Titan, a heavy duty truck from the fifties, driven by our mechanics, arrives to pick us up and take us back to the the vehicles rumble to a stop I noticed that Corsairs Sherman has followed us to the hangars and parked nearby. Kelly, or Aika, more properly, their commander, comes out of the tank and comes to approach us. As our commander I get out and approach her to pay what after battle respects may be required.

"Why hello friends, that was a nice match you put up, not all of our opponents last that long you know." She has a wide grin across her face and stops about a few meters away from us.

"We were glad to have fought against you." I reply. "Your crews displayed admirable proficiency. May I enquire what types of opponents you refer to?"

"Listen, there are dozens and dozens of schools that run Sensha-dou where I come from, it takes a lot to find real challenge when there are so many." She puts her hand to her chin and and puts on a serious face. "You hold a Naoki Shimada here? I imagine she goes by a different alias."

"Naoki Shimada…." I pause to consider. The name sounded familiar, and a bit of thought turns up a connection, "Ah yes, she's the commander of one of our Panzer IIs."

"Right...right…" She takes out a small stack of papers and starts to write on them. "What type of currency do you use to buy ammo or any required in our sport?"

"We use the yen. Seeing as it is the primary currency of our country of residence it seemed like the logical choice."

"Right...right…" She loudly writes down some things and rips off the paper from its fold. "This...here is a check for a very large amount Yen for you." She stuck out her hand for us to see and take.

I raise an eyebrow and accept the offer. So it was true that Americans were rich, but I had never heard of them being charitable. Then again they weren't pure blood American, seeing as it was a school based in Japan, but the point still stood. And it wasn't like our own people were world famous for their generous charity either. Perhaps it was an indirect insult by saying that our schools team seemed so under par we needed these funds. Or perhaps I was looking into it too much.

"Do you lend such generosity to all your vanquished foes?" I ask. She responded with a little smile, not like any of her other ones were so subtle.

"From one friend to another, tell Naoki that she shouldn't run from her sister anymore, either way, we're off." She smiles even wider and closes her eyes in joy, before walking back their Sherman.

I feel two very large and meaty hands on my shoulders and I grit my teeth, knowing who it was.

"What did they give ya huh?" Ele's voice asks eagerly.

"Just a gesture of monetary charity," I reply tersely.

Her hands remove themselves from my shoulder and she replies in a flat tone, "Huh?"

"Money Ele, they gave us money."

"Awwwwww," She pouts, "I was hoping they gave us boys' numbers. Well at least it'll buy strip club tickets."

I feel my blood temperature go up a few degrees at such crudeness. "Ele we are going to use it for the tankery team, not for you to witness nude college boys trying to pay their way through their education with indecency."

"Pfffff, don't tell me you don't sometimes get a little giddy around them college boys," Ele says in a most obnoxiously teasing tone.

"I have no interest in boys whatsoever. I am above such primitive and childish desires," I turn away swift and call out, "Alright everyone, let's clean up and get headed out!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Eureka)<strong>

Personally, if you ask me, I am not much of a person to help clean up around after a match. Just isn't really in my interest to do, so all I do is walk down the same lit hall down to my room I always do. I reach into my pocket and pull out a keyring, spinning it around my finger before standing in front of my door.

"Dododododo, time to go home and waste noobs on Tonks," I sing to myself in the hallway, thank god no one would ever hear it. No matter, I insert the key into the lock and twist it.

Thus opening the way into my room. "Home sweet home." I walk over to my bed and collapse on it, enjoying every bit of the semi-cold mattress and blanket. "Time for Tonks, a lot of tonks, maybe seal club too."

I walk over to my…"desk" and sit down in the chair to check what was new today. While my computer is booting up, I look at a figurine of Kamen Rider Drive. "You may look stupid, but I still like you, good show."

Finally, my desktop flashes up to a background of anime foxes. Some might say I have an obsession with them and they would be correct. I check around the bookmarks I have, nothing new on Gematsu, Forums or YouTube, so I just launch up WoT.

What ensued afterwards was me seal clubbing in my Panzer II Ausf.J, laughing at the tanks that couldn't pen me and pumping APCR into their faces. I also had a T-127, but it was tiring driving that around all the time. There is a buzzing noise that alerts me to someone at the door. The ship is ancient and uses rather unrefined doorbells, leftovers from the thirties.

Naturally, I sigh, luckily I am at my garage outfitting my newly bought LTTB to seal club high tiers with Sprem and Armor. Then I open my door, which reveals a sore sight for eyes to me, at least today.

"Eureka? Are you busy?" Our president seems to have decided that she should take a visit to my dorm, and has ended up standing in my doorway. I don't particularly want to talk to her at the moment, but I am to jeopardize my position in Counsel. Even if it was as an assistant, and a pretty poor one at that.

"What is it?"

"I bring a message from Aika of Corsair girls academy," She informs me.

"Right...right...so what was it." A fringe of my hair sticks out as I nodded my head.

"She says you shouldn't run from your sister anymore. I don't know what it means but she seemed like there was legitimate intent behind it."

"Eh? Really now… Good to know…" I hold in some awkward silence between the two of us there. After a while she decides to end the awkward pause and speak up.

"Well that's all I have for you," she waves, "Have a good evening." I give her a thumbs up and closed the door back. Then I slowly walked back to my desk, my LTTB sitting on the screen.

"So then… Aika… You've managed to track me down." I Alt-Tab out of the game and go over into my pictures folder to click on one of them, studying them very closely. There are two girls standing in front of a Chi-Nu medium tank.

There was me, Naoki Shimada and of course Nao- wait, suddenly my WoT icon flashed yellow. I opened it back up to find that I had a platoon request from Flanders and Eclair, so naturally… I accepted it.

* * *

><p><strong>|Maggie|<strong>

It's been a good week or so since we first arrived here and since Falkner nearly ran over some of the other lasses, and it's the day we all get our uniforms. This wouldn't be too much of an issue if Falkner and Tosh both didn't dislike wearing skirts. They could get away with it back north in Scotland because the dress code was a bit more lenient, meaning that Tosh more or less would arrive in her sports bra and sport shorts, and Falkner looked like she had just walked out of a biker bar almost. As a result, those two were whinging and whining as we headed towards the gym to pick up our uniforms. Brienne seemed excited to see what the new one would look like, and Sam of course as usual was in a book, putting a church mouse to shame with how quiet she was being.

All that left was Shaun who was walking with Sam to make sure she didn't faceplant any walls or doors. Honestly not the worst our group has been. Me? Heh. I just hope that since they're custom fit, it'll be nice and snug. I don't like wearing loose clothing, and my current uniform jacket from the old school is a few years old, a little tight on the girls, but reliable.

As soon as we get there, we see one of the girls there with what seems to be our uniforms in neat plastic bags to keep them from getting dirty. Ironic as they'd be coated with dirt and grime soon enough. It seemed that she was wearing the uniform herself, a black Swedish army jacket styled after one of world war two vintage, with a camo pleated skirt coming down to just a few inches above the knees, as well as ankle high combat boots. Each also comes with a set of thin leggings, all different colors as per the orders.

Not bad if I say so myself. Tosh is the first one to speak up as we start grabbing ours. "I don't like skirts." She mutters just loud enough for us to hear. "Never was a fan of 'em."

"You know you could have ordered pants, right?" The girl informs us matter of factly.

Tosh blinks a few times and sighs. "Muther fu- All this time I could have had pants? Really?"

"Well it's too late for you to get them." Sam states as she hands Shaun his uniform, same jacket, but with cargo pants with a slightly different camouflage pattern. "Just wear them. It won't kill you."

"Won't kill me my arsehole." I sigh and turn to her, adjusting my glasses slightly. "Deal with it, or deal with me, arright?"

That seems to have shut her up for at least a little while. I say a quick thanks to the lass who was there and we're off to our dorm rooms. Shaun would have split off to go to his, but he comes with us. It's like old times, back at the old school, when we lived in the same dorm with one another. Was it awkward the first month or so? You better believe it, but we got over it when we settled on him being our brother and us his sisters. Makes asking him stuff much easier nowadays. The door is shut behind us and we get down to our skivvies, and oh the fun begins.

"Oi! That's my skirt!"

"No it ain't! Yours is right there you idiot!"

"Oh. So it is. Sorry."

"I don't even know why I'm annoyed that you were trying to take my skirt."

"Because you think you're cute in it?"

And so on and so forth until we're finally changed. I gotta admit, these girls look good in the uniform, and the lasses do as well. Shaun even manages to look good in it, to which he just chuckles and sits down on the couch. Tosh seems to have finally shut up about the skirt, and Falkner I think actually really likes it from the way she's looking at herself in the mirror. Well that's one challenge done. Roughly another hundred more coming up as we try to fit in here.


	6. Chapter VI

**[Y]**

I hear the clash of steel behind us and cringe a little as our 14TP goes up in smoke. We're all that's left now, and we have an M5 Stuart hot on our tail. Wasting no time, I order Junko to make a hard left to side skid their next shot, then a hard right to head between two rows of large crates that forms a sort of alleyway.

We are currently in yet another practice match for tankery, driving our trusty BT-7 once again. About a week after the first one, Felicita found us another school willing to spend time, ammo, and fuel to help us hone our skills. Instead of being hosted on the ship this time however, she had used her connections to get us a section of the dockyards closed off for our usage, which was an interesting battleground to say the least. As it turned out we still had quite a ways to go before we could reliably fight anything, since we had just lost our only other tank besides my own team, but at least it wasn't a complete cluster like the first match we had.

I poke my eyes just outside the tank enough to see that the Stuart is still hot in pursuit, following us amongst the maze of bulk storage containers offloaded from ships. Hopefully full of nothing valuable, or perhaps protected by carbon liner themselves. A shot from the M5 grazes us, denting our toolbox.

"Hikari, turn the turret around and suppress them with cannon and MG fire," I tell her, "I'll direct Yunko to shake them off us."

"What's a machine gun going to do?" Hikari asks as she whirls the turret around. My answer is briefly interrupted as she cuts loose with a burst of machine gun fire, sparks flying off the front of the Stuart.

"Make noise, scratch their paint, annoy them, I don't know," I respond, the thump of the 45mm cannon adding a rather loud period to the end of my sentence. The wind stings my face as we go full speed through the yard and I watch for an opportunity to turn.

One presents itself in the form of a rather large break between two containers, and I order Yunko to turn hard right. The tank skids hard and I feel the G force pulling me to the side, the tank wobbling a little as it steadies out of the turn.

"Are they still behind us?" I call to Hikari.

"They lost some ground but yeah they are. We should be able to outrun this thing shouldn't we?"

"The M5's automatic transmission means it loses less speed through acceleration and deceleration." I explain, "If we can get to open ground-"

The 45mm thumps and makes a clanging noise as the breech cycles.

"-we could outrun them." I pause for a moment and pull our crumpled up field map from my pocket and inspect it. I was pretty sure there wasn't any open space but a last second double check couldn't hurt. And sure enough something catches my eye. A gravel yard, half a kilometer to the Northeast. Knowing the dangers of driving while distracted, I take a look around our tank to see how the situation is and spot a T intersection made from how the storage crates are stacked.

"Yunko, feint left and then drift us right!" I order.

Yunko steels herself and jinks the BT-7 to the left and then yanks hard right. Sparks fly beneath the light tank's tracks as it drifts around the corner, another set of sparks blowing over as the Stuart fires a shell that grazes across our front.

"Gah! That was way too close," I grit my teeth, looking back at the map, trying to find a reference to figure out where we are in the dockyards. I spot crane booms to our left, and a quick map check shows me that all the fixed cranes face the ocean. With that in mind I'm able to get a rough idea of our position and where we need to go.

"Yunko, I want you to keep heading straight, and then take a left next, then a right, then another left and another right!" I tell her.

Yunko's mind blanks for a moment as it struggles to remember what she'd been told. She turns left in the nick of time and then immediately turns right. "I hope this is a good idea!" she yells, making another left turn. "Last turn is coming up!"

I look back and, unfortunately, the Stuart is getting closer, the more modern driveline showing through in the tight maneuvers, but they still weren't hitting us quite yet. Hopefully the hard maneuvering would keep their aim thrown for the final stretch. We enter the last turn and the tank grinds hard against the pavement as it turns, the sound of metal on concrete loudly reverberating through or ears.

Looking ahead I see the gravel yard, which is, to put it simply, a place where gravel is put before use, often after dredging or before being used to fill in things. Overall it's like a sandbox, with fields of the stuff interrupted by gentle but large hills of the small stones.

"Alright, since we're on gravel, don't stop, the turns are gentle so take them gently, but keep going as fast as you can to get us some distance," I command, "Once we have that we'll try to jump them from behind the hills."

"I'm just going to keep driving!" she yelled. She darts between the hills and tries to put some distance between us and the Stuart, pushing her driving skills to the limit. The Stuart tries to keep with us, but now that we're away from the harsh 90 degree turns of the crate yards we're beginning to pull away from them. I smile and rub the side of the turret affectionately. "Good tank," I whisper. She may have been ancient, but she still had tricks up her sleeve.

Soon enough we have enough distance that some ducking between the hills finally gets us out of the sights of the M5. They do not appear in any direction, and I order Yunko to bring the tank to an idle speed.

"Alright, we've turned the tables. We have the first move now. Let's making fast slashing attacks on them to maximize our speed advantage and reduce exposure time. Once we find them I'll give the word.

Hikari sighed. "Who'd have thought we'd be sweating the most with one of their weaker tanks."

"Look at it this way Hikari," I grin, "I bet they're saying the exact same thing about us."

"I hope so."

"So what are we doing?" Yunko asks.

I stick my whole torso out the hatch and pull out a field periscope. "Yunko, bring us up to one of the gravel mounds and stop when I give the word."

She complies and I order her to halt the tank just before we poke out, so that with me sticking out and using my periscope I can observe what's going on below. Sure enough, we spot the M5 meandering around below, trying to sniff us out. Well soon enough we'd let them find out. I put the periscope back in the tank and climb back inside.

"Yunko, bring us to the bottom of the mound and turn us about thirty degrees left."

Yunko shrugs, taking the tank down to the bottom and then turning the tank to face the wandering Stuart. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, and when I feel the most at ease I give the word.

"Yunko! Full speed ahead!" Yunko jolts as if hit by lightning and stomps on the accelerator, rearing the tank like a frightened horse and charging ahead. Our tank burst over the hilltop as it crests, getting a little bit of air and landing with a jolt, which doesn't seem to throw Yunko's driving off to much. I reacquire the Stuart which is indeed ahead of us, close to where I'd predicted it would be.

I wait till point blank range to give Hikari the command to fire, and our tank coughs up a 45mm round at them, but it hits the extreme angled side cheeks of their front and ricochets. Some well timed swerving from Yunko avoids the return fire and we duck behind another hill.

"How does our gun suck so much it can't take out that puny tank?!" She yells up.

"It was an extreme angle shot," I reply, looking over at Hikari, "Look, I know you're trying your best, but can you calm down a bit and wait for a clear shot?"

"You're the one who told me to shoot!" She snaps back.

"Well now I am telling you to shoot with a bit more restraint," I try to tell her calmly, "Yunko, bring us around and let's make another-" I hear a boom and see the M5 has brought the party to us, cresting the hill and firing rapidly.

"Nevermind then. Hikari, control your fire carefully, Yunko, turn into their attack, stat!"

"What are you, a heart surgeon?!" Yunko turns the tank towards the Stuart causing their shot to go wide and closed the distance rapidly. "This could be our best shot!"

"Hikari, wait till they fill our gunsights!" I yell as the American light gets closer and closer.

Hikari stares through the sight as the Stuart shook in her field of vision. She did as instructed and waited until she could see nothing but tank. She fired the gun and instantly afterwards and Yunko jerked the tank away.

I throw the hatch open and look back to survey the damage. The M5 is still moving though and fires a shot back at us, ripping the fender off our right rear track.

"Gah, we must have bounced off their turret or something," I cry, "Yunko, let's get back behind that hill up ahead and we'll find another angle to make an attack from."

Yunko maneuvers the tank as instructed and then slows down to reduce the strain on the tank. "So what now chief?"

I pause to asses the situation. The Stuart is onto us and I see it firing the machine gun to draw bead on us for the main gun. I hunker down behind my hatch using it as a shield against the incoming MG fire, looking for an opportunity, and I manage to catch one.

"Yunko! Make a sharp right between these two gravel hills up ahead! Then another right, then another right after 3 seconds and then I want you to floor it hard, give it everything you got! Hikari, point the turret 90 degrees left and be prepared to fire once we reacquire the Stuart!"

"Wait I can't remember all that!" Yunko cries.

"Right, right, right!" Hikari told her frantically.

"You could have just said 'circle around them'!" Yunko shouts. She makes a hard right turn between the two gravel hills and then starts a long loop around the hill to the comparatively sluggish Stuarts rear. Hikari turns the turret to the left and gets it right at ninety degrees just as we enter the third ninety degree turn. Our BT-7 jolts forward, good old Yunko taking the "give it everything you got" that I told her to heart. The tank crests the hill so fast we leap into the air and come crashing down behind the Stuart.

"Hikari, fire!"

Hikari pulls the firing lever and the gun barks out a shell right into the engine compartment of the Stuart with a puff small burst of flame and smoke billowing out of the engine area like a chimney.

"We got em!" I cheer.

Hikari sighed in relief and leaned against the inside of the turret. "See, I can shoot."

Yunko punched the air through her driver's hatch. "Hah, my driving is the best there is!"

"Hehe, maybe we aren't going to lo-" I'm cut off as a sickening impact rocks our tank hard, and we shudder to a halt. Smoke is coming from our engine deck and a white flag indicates were out. I look up and see the tank that delivered the kill shot, a Pvkv m/43 tank destroyer. I slump back into my seat and shake my head.

"Guess it wasn't good enough. Well you can only carry so much I guess…."

Yunko scratches her head. "I seem to recall that really tall girl saying something about us being bad tomatoes and our opponents some kind of ejaculating unicorns or something."

Hikari looks at her bewildered. "Huh?"

Yunko shrugs. "I have no idea what that girl says most of the time."

I try to remember who they're talking about. Of course for tall girls the Semovente commander came to mind, though I hardly saw her at all. For being so big she sure seemed to be able to hide well. Ah well at this point it didn't matter. Our ride would be here any minute and soon we'd be done for the day. I lean against the side of the turret, not quite depressed, just a bit disappointed.

"What's up with Yuki?" Hikari sits close to me and turns her head to look into my eyes. "Sore loser?"

I sigh and shake my head, "Nah it's just….I don't know, I kinda was hoping for a bit better results going into tankery. I guess that's a bit unrealistic huh?"

She shrugs. "Don't worry about it. At least we got one tank, it's not like we expected to win this practice match." She pats me on the head. "You did good."

I manage a soft smile and give her a quick hug, "Thanks. Now let's hope everyone else thinks so."

* * *

><p><strong>{F}<strong>

"And so with the investments and savings accounts set up as I proposed, both the school and the tankery team will be able to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the reclaimed funds," Atsuko explains. She had just given a presentation to our council on how she had laid out a plan for the usage of the embezzled money we had tracked down earlier. The funds had been sufficient enough to warrant the school's involvement, and initially they wished to take all the money for school usage, but Atsuko had devised a scheme which would invest and save the money such that both the school and tankery team would end up with plenty.

"Now the school was skeptical about giving us such a significant share of the funds, but this is where the second part of our bargain comes in. Sponsors," She explains, "Almost every major tankery team has them. Kuromorimine has such groups as BMW and Krupp Thyssen, Saunders is endorsed by Coca Cola and Burger King. The relationships between them vary. If a school is particularly popular or has celebrity status they may use and discuss a sponsor's service or product in public, or make blog posts, or wear promotional apparel in tournaments or public appearances. Others, like in the case of Kuro and BMW, involve appearing in promotions and commercials."

She clears her throat and continues, "The easiest way to get sponsors is to participate and win in tankery tournaments. Larger tournaments carry more big name sponsors, but even humble local tournaments have groups backing them. Being an upstart school is both a good and a bad thing for getting sponsors. On one hand, companies are eager to enter partnerships with upcoming schools while it's affordable. Once a school is a respectable and well known name in tankery, they can ask more money from sponsors, but upcoming schools fall under the rule of beggars can't be choosers and allow the supporting group to name the price. On the other hand….schools that are upcoming are uncertain investments. Sometimes a string of amazing success is due to nothing more than a single good crew or commander or some dumb luck, and will fade after a few years."

"In the case of our school, we have more programs going for us than just tankery. Our historical value and concerts make us a tourist trap as is, which makes us look more lucrative, since if our tankery program fails, a sponsor can shift their funds to our more reliable programs. We already have some for our band program."

I nod understandingly, soaking up her information like a sponge, wanting to retain every detail, since as head of the tankery team I'd likely be the one serving as the representative to these companies should they approach us.

"So, what you are saying is, we should seek out some tournaments to show our mettle in," I say, "And which will get us funding from sponsor groups."

Atsuko nods, "Indeed. I managed to convince the school that the tankery team would pay for itself if we could win a tournament or two by the end of the year."

"I suppose that you have looked at prospective tournaments?" I ask her.

She shakes her head, "No, but I believe Miyuki looked at some. Vice President?"

Miyuki sighed. "Well, the nationals are over and the worlds are coming up soon but that's closed to us. Our option is sort of a 'little league' where smaller teams like ours are able to participate in, and there is an international tournament for that as well which, since we do have one friendly match under our belt, are eligible for. Most of the teams in this tournament can't field the numbers that the higher leagues often require, rarely more than ten tanks, but that doesn't mean they're any less skilled, in fact I'd argue they're more skilled.

"It doesn't have the exposure or potential for sponsors that some of the other league do but the fact that the upcoming tournament is international and no other Japanese team has signed up to participate gives us a way in. At least we can get our name out."

"I presume that the vehicle selection is the same as in most non historical leagues?" I ask.

"They've expanded on it a great deal in hopes of bringing in more teams yes. I've checked and all of our vehicles are eligible."

"Excellent. I"ll look into it. Does this tournament have a name?"

"European Junior International, but a lot of people call it the "Little League", even though it's for High School students."

"With a name such as that I would imagine it's not incredibly high stress or difficult," I remark, "Is that all you have for me on the matter?"

"There isn't much else available to us frankly, or are you referring to sponsors?"

"The tournament Miyuki, I was speaking of the tournament. Seeing as you have no more information, I think we can close up this discussion and get back to our normal tasks."

Miyuki bristles slightly from my tone and choice of words but says nothing. She grabs her papers and stands up to leave the room. Yoko stands and looks at me.

"Are you doing alright? You seem a little stressed. You look like you're going through your presidential campaign again."

"Managing the tankery team is more work than I anticipated," I admit, "But I assure you I am completely fine. I can handle extra responsibility."

Yoko reaches into her breast pocket and pulls out something that resembles a candy bar, but without the bright packaging. "Here, a protein bar should help perk you up."

I give her a smile to display my gratitude. "Thanks for your kindness. I assure you though, I really am fine."

"Yeah, I know but when you're stressed you tend not to eat properly I've noticed. You need to eat to keep your energy up."

"I appreciate your concern but it isn't needed." I stand up briskly. "I can handle my own issues." I head out the door but pause right in the doorway, considering how rude that sounded, "I appreciate your help though, even if it is not needed."

"You're welcome, but whether you like it or not, or realize it or not, I think it is needed."

There was a pause and then a knock on the open door. Turning I see another girl in the doorway, also from naval studies. She has calm green eyes and short black hair that curls at the ends. She carries a carpet sweeper in her left hand and a big black garbage bag in the other.

"Is your meeting over?" She asks.

Yoko nods. "Yeah, we're done here Carissa. Knock yourself out. Thank you for your hard work."

She turns to me now. "Shall we leave her to it?"

Felicita nodded, "Yes, let's." I exit the room, grateful to have another discussion without incident. Another step forward.

* * *

><p>My footsteps make soft thumps that echo through the empty corridors as I head to my dorm room to put an end to the day. My mind has so much about it, it as though nothing is about it at all. Maybe Yoko was right, maybe I did need help.<p>

I quickly shake the thought from my head. I was a strong, independent, young woman. I could fend for myself. The only support and help I needed was on the job. And that was that. I come to small alcove with some vending machines and I see the back of a head that looks rather familiar. In fact it's Yuki, I recognize her long, midnight blue hair.

At first I plan on keeping walking, but it catches my eye that there's someone with her. I don't know what compulses me to stop. I have little interest in Yuki outside of her tankery abilities. But my intuition tells me to. My intuition had served me well previously, and something in my gut told me to slow down and take a bit more of a look into the situation.

Of course, look was a bit of a metaphorical term in this case, as I stop past the alcove out of sight, only able to hear things unfolding. As it turns out, this would be more than sufficient to ascertain the situation.

"So whatcha buying there sweetheart?" Comes a masculine voice, presumably the other person I saw with Yuki.

"N-Nothing," Comes Yuki's soft reply. Her voice was unmistakable. "Just some chips is all."

"Mmmm, chips eh?" The male says with a most sickeningly lecherous tone, "Maybe I can buy you some hard candy….if you…." I hear movement, "Would care to taste my hard candy."

My stomach lurches at how utterly disgusting he's being, and I want so badly to interfere, but I dissuade myself. This was Yuki's fight. She could handle this, I knew how strong she was. I'd seen it, and when I was around her I could sense it too. It was a strength unlike anything I'd ever felt.

"Gah! You're sick! J-just let me buy my snack you creep!" Yuki cries out.

"Aw come here-" I hear the sounds of a mild struggle, then a small thud, then I see Yuki bolt out of the alcove and down the hall. I stand there for a moment trying to comprehend what had just passed. It seemed Yuki hadn't held up as well as I had predicted.

I begin to head back to my dorm, but then for the second time tonight by intuition grabs a hold of me. That and a… Strange sense of guardianship. One of the members of my unit had troubles. As commander, I saw it fit to make sure they could sort it out. I turn around and follow Yuki back to her dorm.

**[Y]**

I race along the halls until my breath is expended and my legs are sore, not stopping until I reach my dorm. I fumble the keys a bit as I unlock it and stumble in, slamming the door behind me, hands on my knees as I struggle to catch my breath.

Hikari dashes in from the kitchen and stares at me worriedly. "Yuki, what happened?"

I manage to get my breathing under control and look up at here. Theres is a strong worried look about her eyes and honestly, I can't blame her.

"I… Some jerk tried to… Ya know… He tried coming onto me while I was trying to get a snack," I croak.

Hikari sighs. "Aw come on Yuki are you still so sensitive? Why didn't you just tell him off?"

"I..." I bite my lip, "I don't know… It was just so… Intimidating. I….I got flustered and I….I ran off as fast as I could."

"You're scared of some creep but you act all brave and bold in the tank matches? You're hopeless." She shakes her head. "C'mon I'll make you some tea." She grabs me and takes me into the kitchen.

I follow her and slump down in one of the seats at our table. She was right. I was hopeless. No amount of being good in sports could make up for being such a fallible wimp. As much as they loved me in the field, at the end of the day I was still the same little wimpy, girly little boy who no one would ever accept.

I shove those thoughts back in my head. As easy as it was to do, wallowing wouldn't get me anywhere. As I'm rubbing my eyes I hear the buzz of our doorbell.

"I'll get that," I say, getting up and leaving Hikari to finish the tea. I arrive at the door, and open it to reveal none other than Felicita herself. I turn a bit stiff at her presence. No matter how many times I see her, she still carries an indescribable weight to her presence.

"Yuki," she greets me. Her tone is monotone, calm and yet...not detached. I still can't find words for it.

"Felicita," I greet in return, shuffling a bit on my heels, "What brings you here?"

"I… Overheard your struggle in the hall… With the young man who attempted to harass you," she explains, seeming a little tense somehow.

"Ah yes that," I rub my arm nervously, not sure how to respond.

"Yuki, is this how you always are?" She asks, placing her hands on her hips, "Just letting people walk over you?" She seems shocked at it in fact.

"Well it was… Well I haven't been attacked like that before really… I just didn't know what to do."

"Yuki, you are a strong woman, and you must respond as one in all situations," she says, taking a stance like she was on a poster, or standing giving a rousing speech, "You must grab life with an iron fist, never letting go, never letting it slip. I see you out there in battle and I see strength, courage under fire and above all, and ability to handle stress and problems. Now why don't I see that when you deal with men?"

I flinch a little, "Well I just… I grew up with tanks, I've always loved them. With men it's different. I tried slapping them, I tried running, I just don't know what works."

"You must think of men approaching you like an oncoming enemy spearhead. Every formation has a chink in it's armor. Find it, exploit it, win," Felicita instructs me passionately. I don't get why she's doing this, but her words are stirring something, something strange in me. "Yuki, have you always handled assailants like this?"

"For the most part…Yes." I look down in shame, as I have many times, but this time I felt that strange stirring again, stronger this time, and I can't look her in her sharp, icy eyes anymore. What's happening with me?

Then all of a sudden I feel a hand grab my cheek and suddenly I am pulled back to facing those piercing, deep ice blue eyes, and her voice is strict and demanding. "Yuki, if people are to take you seriously you cannot meekly back away or give half hearted attempts at defiance. I can tell, you are a girl with a good heart and a strong mind, but you need help to realize the potential of those. Learn from me and you will be able to make men respect you."

I feel butterflies in my stomach and my body tenses up at Felicita's touch. It's awkward, but not the kind of awkward like when that guy came onto me. This awkwardness is different. I feel weak, not angry. Was I feeling… No it couldn't be could it? Was I having… Feelings for this girl? No, impossible, simply impossible. I simply nod silently, rendered unable to speak by this strange sensation.

She stares me down a few moments more before letting go. "Well if you wish to learn, you can speak with me after the school day ends one Tuesdays, or during the weekend. The earlier the better. You may find me in my dorm or the student council office. If you cannot locate me, speak with any of my council mates, they will certainly know where I am. Until next time." She gave short wave and absconded, and I shut the door and head back inside.

"Yuki, the tea is ready!" Hikari calls, and I head back to the kitchen to find her waiting for me with a steaming cup of tea ready at my spot at the table.

"Thanks Hikari," I grunt a little as I get seated and bring the teacup to my face to begin blowing across the surface gently.

"So who was it?" She asks, pouring a cup for herself.

"Oh nobody really, just Felicita stopping by," I reply, trying to play it off casually.

Hikari raises and eyebrow and comes to sit next to me. "The President? Why?"

"Oh she just… Saw me running back to my dorm was all. Just wanted to see if anything was the matter," I reply, taking a small test sip and cringing a bit as it singes my lip. Still too hot.

"Well I think she's right. After all you're the vice-captain now. If you're not confident, how can she have faith in you to help lead the team if you can't deal with some two-bit creep?"

"Yeah, you both have a point," I admit, "But um, I think things are going to get better." I wanted to tell her about Felicita's offer, about the strange but exciting feelings she gave me, but I can't bring myself to. "I just… I know I'm going to improve. I'm going to buckle down and learn how to handle these guys. Then Felicita and everyone else will see me as strong and accept me. Things will go straight up hill!"

"You'd better or I'm gonna give you a strong kick in the ass!" She says, punching me affectionately in the shoulder. I chuckle and pat her shoulder with equal affection.

"Maybe that's exactly what I need. A kick in the ass. Something to get me rolling, make me stand up and face the worlds challenges. Maybe I need to be the one to kick my own ass." I laugh.

"If you ever want volunteers, Yunko and I would be all too happy," Hikari laughed, "But you'd better make good on that Yuki, or your ass is the Red Sea and my foot is Moses!"

I smile and try a sip of the tea again. Still hot, but no longer scalding, lip burningly so, and I am able to gently sip down the soothing liquid. Somehow I feel assured now. Assured that I had someone who'd finally show me what I had been missing, the keys to strength, acceptance and success. Hikari and Yunko had always pushed for me to grow, and now I was finally going to learn how.

**{F}**

Why? That's the question eating the back of my mind as I head back to my dorm. Why? Why did I offer to help Yuki back there? It wasn't something I had planned on doing, no, it was a spur of the moment decision. It seemed as though learning her plight in regards to standing up for herself extended beyond the few incidents I had seen, if what she said was to be believed, and I certainly believed.

I guess it was simply… Simply the idea of such marvelous potential getting trampled on. Yuki was unlike any girl I had met. She was different. I couldn't put my finger on exactly how but she gave me a different… Some would say vibe… Than any of the others. Seeing how she fought in tankery, I knew she had potential, potential I could bear letting be trampled on.

So there it was, I had explained it to myself. I had the answer. So why was the thought of Yuki still stuck in my head? Perhaps my brain was tired, sluggish. Yeah that was it. Additionally, I hadn't brought in thoughts which would displace Yuki's presence in my mind, so perhaps that explained why she was lodged there.

I get to my dorm and unlock it with the key, shutting it behind me as I enter. I pass Ele and Illaria sitting together on the couch, engrossed in a rather silly anime about the world's nations anthropomorphised as primarily male humans. What they saw in that I couldn't fathom. Thankfully they have enough respect to turn it down they know i prefer to get to bed at a good hour.

I enter the bedroom and unbutton my jacket and drop my pants, folding both neatly and placing them on the bedside table. I undo my bra and place it in the laundry bin, and I got to retrieve my two piece, long sleeved, white cotton pyjamas from the tall dresser me and my roommates share. Pulling them on I turn off the lights and slip under the covers, closing my eyes.

As i drift to slumber though, that face is still there. Yuki is still stuck in my head. I don't bother trying to force her out, she was not a bad thing to be thinking about, and I certainly was not going to lose precious minutes of sleep over clearing my mind when she wasn't doing any harm in there. Still, it made a curious subject to ponder on. What had cemented her in my mind so firmly. Well, I guess I wouldn't find out tonight. That was okay, I am sure I'd have plenty more opportunities to work out Yuki in my head.


	7. Chapter VII

**[Hikari]**

I was woken from my sleep by Yuki's alarm. Groaning I turned over in bed and looked at my clock and couldn't believe my eyes. Yuki tended to sleep in later, why would his alarm be going off now? I could hear the sounds of him scurrying to get dressed, and from the rapidity of thumps opening and closing of drawers he sounded rather energetic.

Compelled by curiosity and concern, I threw off my covers and stood to my feet, pausing only to stretch before walking over to Yuki's room.

"What are you doing up so early?" I demanded.

Yuki looks over at me as he's stuffing his bra, looking more than a bit surprised to see me, "Oh I just have….uh...things to attend to is all," he says as he slips his undershirt on.

"What things have you ever had to attend to that involved you being so energetic in the morning? Got a hot date or something?"

Yuki puts his shoes on and fastens his belt, buttoning up his blouse. "Can I just go please?"

I put my hands up in surrender. "Hey, what's with the cold shoulder? It's you who woke yourself up so early. Something you don't wanna tell me? Don't tell me you actually do have a date."

Yuki's cheeks turn a soft shade of pink and he shakes his head, "Not a date. Just some… Business is all."

"Business? You? C'mon Yuki what's really going on?"

Yuki avoids looking me in the eyes, thinking about something, and then suddenly walks briskly past me. "Sorry Hikari, but I don't wish to be late," he says, grabbing his school bag and heading out the door.

I grunt in frustration, not at the idea of Yuki dating someone, but the idea that he has to hide it from me. What could he have to hide from his best friend? I march over to Yunko's room; she's still sleeping.

"Yunko, do you know who Yuki's dating?"

Yunko woke with a snort. "Uh, huh, wha? Yuki? Date?" She rolls over and looks at me, her eyes still glazed with sleep. "This is a dream right?"

I sigh. "It's not a hundred percent, but he's definitely seeing somebody about something."

"Well good for him then. The real question is whether he's dating a lesbian or another girl who knows his true identity."

I was horrified. "That couldn't… He wouldn't…."

Yunko shrugged. "Just let it be for now Kari, it'll be fine." She rolled over and went back to sleep.

I was beside myself, what was I going to do about this? Should I do anything? Over and over in my head, like a circle, all could do was think about it.

**[Yuki]**

I check the small card Felicita gave me last night once more as I head down the corridor. According to this her room number was 413, and I looked up at the number on the nearest door. 409. I was almost there. Just a few doors down and I found it, 413. I slip the card into my pocket as I stare at the heavy wood door. It seemed surprisingly normal. I'd always thought the student president would live somewhere befitting of her rank, but this door was no different than the dozens of others lining the corridor.

All I had to do was knock, knock to begin learning from the President, from Felicita. Just the thought of it gets my heart beating a little faster, fluttering ever so slightly. I hadn't known her for too long, but nonetheless, ever since last night I couldn't get it out of my head how… Captivating she was. At first she seemed stone cold, only concerned about her job, but… I realized it was silly, naive, hopeful in the worst of ways, but my heart was telling me under that there was someone I could love.

I shake my head rapidly. What the hell was I thinking? Love? The President? No way, she didn't have time for that, it would blow my cover, there was a million things wrong with it. But my foolish heart wonders still if maybe she wouldn't tell, that if she learned who I was she'd be okay, that we could have something.

_Yuki, she's here to solve your problems, not to be your love dovey honey,_ I chide myself, _And you've only known her for a few weeks. You have no idea what she's really like._

What she was really like… I guess that I could never know what that was until I was around her more, and this is my ticket to it. Even if she turned out to not be the girl for me, or worse, didn't like me back, I could at least take away skills from it I desperately needed. I take a deep breath and press my thumb against the doorbell, awaiting a response.

Slowly the door opens and I'm greeted by the raven haired president, her slick black locks combined with impeccable neatness. I take a gulp and bow politely, greeting her.

"Good morning Felicita."

She doesn't shift so much as a millimeter when she responds, holding almost statue still, "Good morning Yuki. So you decided to take up my offer."

I nod sheepishly, "Y-yes Ma'am. I wish to learn from you."

Felicita pauses, looking me over, probably trying to discern if I was for real about this. She gives me a satisfied look and nods. "Alright then. I invite you to stay in my room while I prepare to move out."

I feel my cheeks turn pink. "C-come into your room? Are you sure?"

She tilts her head at me, "Yes, unless you'd prefer to wait outside."

I blink and then shake my head. Of course, it was normal for girls to allow other girls access into their dorms. "No, I'd love to come in."

"Well hurry up then," she says, and I follow her into her quarters. They're surprisingly spartan to say the least. To my left is a small living room, with a couch, an end table, a mid size TV, and a chair. The items are fairly mid range and a bit aged. To my left, a small alcove holding a tiny little fridge that barely comes up to my chest, a microwave, a two burning stove top, a small oven, and a table big enough to seat three tightly. Directly in front of me across the room is a door, which I presume leads to the beds.

"Take a seat," she gestures to the couch. I take a seat and she retreats into the door which I had presumed led to the bedroom, and I take a moment to ponder some things. For the president to live in such a way, perhaps she had more of an appreciation for common people. Or perhaps she wished to avoid being seen as vain or using her power to gain petty things. I look around and begin to notice something about the nature of the decorations. None of them seem very fitting of Feli in even the slightest.

On a shelf above the TV are several sports trophies. One for shot put, one for volleyball, one for soccer, and even one for cross country, along with a signed volleyball and soccer ball next to their respective trophies. On the wall is a picture of some blonde pretty boy, wearing an unbuttoned jacket with nothing underneath, and when I peer hard enough I swear I see lipstick stains. Looking down I realize that the pillow I am on is one of those dakimakuras, featuring a rather underaged looking anime boy in a rather meek pose, stripped down to boxers. I scoot away from it awkwardly and rub the back of my head. Feli sure had interesting friends. If they were the same girls that were her vehicle crew then I could only guess the blue haired girl was responsible for the boy related items and the muscular one for the sports trophies.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and I look up to see Felicita standing above and behind me.

"Come along Yuki, we have our first lesson to attend," she says, and I get up and follow her out of the room.

"Lesson?" I ask her as we head down the halls.

She nods. "Yes. Life is made up of of tests and challenges. My goal is to provide you controlled ones, on which you can practice fortifying yourself and making the affirmative choice, standing up for yourself."

"So… Basically to teach me to be strong, you're going to put me in a position where I have the chance to be strong and see if I can succeed?" I ask.

Felicita makes a face, it's not quite a whole smile but the right look for one is there. "Very good way of putting it Yuki. These tests will start out simple, straightforward, before we move onto more difficult tasks. We'll build your willpower and fortitude into a fortress no man can breach."

I ponder what she might have in store for me, wondering what sort of things this woman had which would put my ability to stand up for myself to the test. Would they be frightening, painful and shocking? Sinister, devious and underhanded? No, those were unlikely. With Felicita, it would be calculated, planned, exacting.

We make it up topside onto the maindeck, and begin heading dockside, making me wonder if she was planning on making this take place on land. Well the ship is still massive and it's a long walk down on the gangplank, so I figure I might as well make some light conversation.

"So what would you normally being doing on the weekends?" I ask her, "You have anything you like to do?"

"I practice fencing and watch my investments and savings accounts." She replies curtly.

I rub the back of my head, "I see….well, do you do anything for fun at all then? I mean fencing sounds fun in a way but it's hardly what I'd call relaxing."

Felicita looks at me strangely, "Fun? I don't do things for fun, I do them for a purpose Yuki. Everything I do is done with an objective."

I can't help but feel a bit concerned when she says that. Feli seemed like an okay girl, I didn't see why she'd put herself through such things.

"Wouldn't that be stressful though? Always having to be sharp and having an eye on the prize all the time?" I ask.

"N-Not at all!" She snaps back, surprisingly defensive about it, "I thrive off of success and pursuing objectives!"

"I uh… Okay..." I look down, wondering how much she really meant it. What drove her to be so obsessive about work? Was it family pressure? Or had she been rejected as a kid and compensated like this? Yet another thing I wished to uncover about this strange girl.

Onto the gangway and down we go, the cool seaside breeze blowing past my long locks. Since Felicita's hair is much shorter, it tends to stay in place, only rustling slightly as we walk along. We arrive at the dock and Felicita guides me to a bus stop nearby, and we sit on one of the benches waiting for a bus to arrive.

It's quiet at this time of morning, not a feeling I am used to at this school. The students are loud and from the time school begins until it's dark one or more of the school's many bands are practicing for the school's concert, which are a weekly dose of ear destroying metal. Not that I totally mind, they almost always sing of history and all the things about it. They sing tributes to those who fought and fell, to victory and loss. If it weren't so loud I'd attend more often, but tankery was already threatening my eardrums as it was.

Soon enough a bus is here for us, and Felicita guides me onto it, paying for both our fares. The bus is almost empty save for a few people who are also transiting at this hour. I go to take a seat but I feel Felicita's hand upon my shoulder.

"Yuki," she indicates to a girl sitting on the bus alone, "Ask her to move over for you."

"Huh? But why? There are plenty of-" I go to protest but a stern look from Felicita cuts me off, so I turn to the girl.

"Uh….hello?"

She tilts her head up at me, "Yes?"

"Uh may I...may I sit here?" I ask timidly.

The girl scratches her head, "Uh I don't see why you would want to. There are plenty of seats."

Having it pointed out to me I feel a bit embarrassed at having asked that. "Y-yes of course. Silly me, what was I thinking?"

I take a seat across from her and Felicita sits next to me, giving me a disappointed look.

"Yuki, what was that?" She asked, "We're trying to teach you to be more affirmative. Little things like this are the first steps."

"But she was right," I protest, "There are many other seats I could have taken."

"Yuki, if you can't be affirmative when there are plenty of seats, what makes you think you'll do better when that's the last one?"

I sigh and hang my head in shame. Felicita was right. I was just too weak for my own good, and we had a long ways to go.

* * *

><p>"So uh what's with the apron and goggles?" I ask Felicita as she stands in front of me, apron clad with a duffle bag in her right hand, and a matching set of apron and goggles in her left. She sets the duffle bag down and hands me the protective gear.<p>

"Put these on. They are critical for today's lesson." She commands, kneeling down by the dufflebag, presumably getting some things out of it. I do as she commands and put the apron on, followed by pulling the goggles over my face. Once I make sure they're on snugly I look up at Felicita, who now is holding a paintball gun and a belt with more paintballs stored in it, and I already am feeling uneasy about this lesson.

"Uh Felicita," I ask, "Care to explain today's lesson?"

"It's quite simple really," She says to me, "You are going to step back to the 30 meter line I have painted upon the ground." She indicates to said line, "And I will open fire on you with my paint weapon. Your goal is to close the distance and then take the weapon out of my hands, turning it on me!"

I gasp a little, finding this lesson to be a rather violent step up from the last, "You mean pull it from you hands and shoot you with it? But Felicita, you're my friend!" I blink and realize what I said, covering my mouth and dipping my head in shame.

"F-friend?" She repeats, looking at me strangely, and though my eyes only flicker up at her for a moment I swear I can catch some pink on her cheeks. "I don't have friends," she denies, "N-no, you're just uh… Just… Just someone I am helping! Because it's the right thing to do," she says, but her voice says otherwise. It sounds strained, like it's taking effort for her to sound detached and stoic saying it, and for the moment I get the silly notion she may be denying liking me.

"Of course," I say, going along with her for now, "And I am really grateful for your help. So… What's the idea of this thing?"

"The idea is that you will learn how to react quickly, turning the tables on an assault upon yourself," Felicita explains.

"But this is like combat," I protest, "And I'm already in tankery. How will this help me at all with guys?"

"It's a lot different when you can see who is making the attack on you then when they're fighting you in tanks," Felicita tells me sternly, "Now do you wish to receive this training or not? I will not force you to continue against your will."

I take a gulp and steel myself. As much as me and her would never work, I still don't want to just walk out. I want to at least have her think well of me, not to see me as a wimp. More than anyone now I wanted her to accept me. And besides, it was just paintball. How much could it hurt?

"I'll do it Felicita!" I say, running to the starting position, "Fire at will, I'm ready!"

The first paintball strikes me and I realize I am not ready. Felicita's aim is deadly, and the little balls of paint feel like tiny punches on me. Three shots and three sore spots on my stomach later I am snapped out of internalizing about how much they hurt, and I begin to move towards Felicita, but's it's pretty difficult with her making sure I get a high velocity gut jab with every step. Soon she begins picking at other areas, my shoulders arms, and legs. She's polite enough to avoid my breasts or genitals thankfully, but it's only slightly comforting.

"Agggggh, Felicita that really hurts," I groan as I trudge towards her, trying to sidestep some of the shots, but Felicita seems able to predict my evasion and only one or two shots fail to hit their mark.

"Well there would be little motivation for you to resist if it was a pleasant sensation," Felicita replies, hitting my shoulder and sending a sharp pain through it. "Come on Yuki! This is the type of indecisiveness that people will seize to take advantage of you!"

I bite my lip, realizing I need to take the initiative. I need to show Feli I could take this fight to her, and with a sudden energy I sprint forth at her. The gap closes rapidly and I have to shut out the pain as she ups her rate of fire. I finally reach her and I grab the weapon forcefully from her hands and pump three paintballs into her chest, and at the same time my momentum shoves her back, nearly sending her to the ground. Startled by own sudden burst of initiative and suddenly fearful that I may have gone a bit overboard I take a step back.

"Oh Felicita… I… I um…"

"Yuki," she interrupts me, getting her footing back under her ,"I cannot believe you did that. That was…."

I cringe and prepare for a stern berating, but what comes next is highly unexpected.

"That was exactly what I was hoping for!" She says, and I swear she's… She's sort of smiling at me! "You had a slow start, but you came at me with the vigor, energy and aggressiveness I was hoping for! And you managed to be nice and physically aggressive to, nice touch with the shove there!"

I scratch my head, "But…. Wait… So…. You aren't upset… I mean… I did shove you pretty hard…"

Felicita puts her hands on her hips, "Why would I be? I can take more than just a little shove, and I was shooting you. You had every reason to."

I smile a little bit at that. It was one thing for Felicita to ask these things of me, but there is something about the fact she took her own medicine that I found endearing.

"So what now? Was that it?" I ask her.

"For the lesson? Yes?" She nods, taking the gun and packing it into the duffle bag with her ammo belt. "Small steps, Yuki, small steps."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I say, groaning in pain as the soreness from the paintball strikes set in. "Hey um… I know you've already done a lot for me but-"

She puts a finger on my lip and hands me a small business card. "Touch of Freyja, it's a high quality massage parlor. Show them this card and tell them you were sent by me and they'll give you a respectable discount."

I smile and slip the card in my skirt pocket. "Thanks Felicita. You know, you may not think I'm your friend but… I still think you'd make a good one."

With that, I give her a wave, and head off to get a massage. And later when I'm getting the sores tended to by the smoothest hands I ever felt, I indulge my schoolgirl fantasies and decide to image it's Felicita's rubbing my pain away.

* * *

><p>The skies are a dark grey and the constant sound of rain drumming onto the pavement; the grass, the buildings, rain, rain drumming onto everything. I'm now out in it sitting at a park table protected by an umbrella held by Felicita. In front of me is a small patch of dry table, with a piece of paper and a pen upon it. It's cold, just like everything. The rain has sapped the air and the ground of heat and left a chill in the air, made worse by the fact I am damp from my trip to meet up with Felicita.<p>

"Now the goal of this exercise is simple," Felicita explains, "You write a letter to a man you are currently seeing, or who have taken an interest to you."

She sets a cloth on the bench beside me and takes a seat, so close our thighs are pressed together, making me eternally grateful I am wearing a skirt not shorts. Of course Felicita has a good reason, the umbrella she is holding is only so wide and it needs to cover both of us.

"The letter should be soul destroying, crushing, leave him with no hope of ever having you. Make sure he has no doubt you are not meant for him. Only with a swift and crushing blitzkrieg can you halt a wayward heart," she tells me.

It takes a few moments for the words to process in my head, I was still getting used to Felicita's loaded diction. So she wanted me to write a breakup letter then? Simple enough, were it not for the fact I didn't even like men, much less had a crush on one. I try to follow her advice and make it as soul crushing as possible, and my first draft quickly turns acidic and vile, full of hateful words directed towards everyone who never believed me, never accepted me for me. I quickly realize however it had become a rant, just me blowing off steam. There was no heart to it, it was a burning, noxious ooze formed as words. I crumple the paper and try again

I go in for several more attempts, trying to make it crushing and agonizing, and authentic. I want to please Felicita, show her what I can do. But all that's coming up was soulless insults, or at the very least, what just feel like lists of non reasons for a relationship. Felicita notices my struggle and speaks a single piece of advice to me.

"If you must, it would be helpful to imagine someone you have desired in the past, preferably recently, as the object of your letters. Thus you will have an emotional connection when writing the letter and better deliver results."

The advice echoes in my head, bouncing around before striking a match and lighting my dark mind. It was obvious now! The muse for my letter had been right in front of me all along. Or more correctly, sitting pressed up against me.

I begin writing to a man named Felix, Felix of course being a stand in for Felicita. I figure that maybe if I can write out on paper every reason me and her would never work out, maybe I can convince myself internally to stop being googly over her. My pen glides across the paper as I spew every reason why not, every issue and every problem.

The rain drums on, slowly, coldly, a steady rhythm to go along with the tempo of my mind as I write. At first I start out sweet, gentle, but I realize that my goal is to crush any hope of this and so I think of the harshest, most awful things I can think of of Felicita and sear them onto the paper, hoping they will finally be burnt into my heart.

_Dear Felix,_

_I've noticed that you have been looking at me different, and I hear when you call me special, or say I'm a one of a kind girl. When you say these things, or get close to me, or look into my eyes, I can't help but feel something too. But I have to tell you it's time to stop. Despite what my heart says, there's just no room for us in the world._

_You're big strong and loved by many, you're important and a big name. I am to weak and unimportant to bring anything to you. You're also definitely not my type. You're too commanding, too inflexible and you never see things from a romantic angle. You never want to slow down and take time for the little things in life, you're always too stuffed up filling your own agenda with things solely for you. I can't stand a man who doesn't have a loving side, and you're that kind of man._

_I want nothing more to do with you. We can see each other, but only as associates, not as friends, and never as lovers. I hope you find someone who can tolerate your coldness._

I sign the letter and I hand it to Felicita, taking a deep breath, wondering what she would think of it. The cold dampness on my skin seems to sink in as she reads. Immediately I begin to worry I might have made it too obvious, that she's realize I was talking about her, that I'd blow my cover. She looks up from the paper without a hint of emotion.

"Yuki… This paper, it's exactly what I'm looking for," she says, developing that endearing almost-smile she does. "You don't just crush their chances, you give them a nice little spot of hope at first, which makes the crushing all that more painful."

I listen to her words of praise, and my heart no longer seems to be singing. I no longer feel a pining for her at her brutal coldness. I only feel the coldness of my chilled body in the bleak, rainy park we're in. I've done it! I've shaken my crush! I finally convinced myself! The tough times are behind me!

"Yuki," Felicita says, lipping the letter into her pocket, "Is this your first time writing a letter of relationship termination?"

"I um," Damn that girl's ridiculous manner of speech, "Y-yes it is. Never really did it before."

"Well you did incredibly seeing it's your first time. It reads almost as if it were real!"

I have to hold back a chuckle at that. "Yes, well… You said it yourself that I was different, that I could be better."

Felicita nods, "Yes, I did. I am glad I was right." She's about to stand when suddenly she pauses, "You know… You did such quality work… I have a reward in mind."

"Y-you do?" I tilt my head.

"Yes. I was thinking maybe…. That we could get you indoors and I will dry you off. I can prepare some warm towels and gourmet hot cocoa to alleviate the effects the rain has had on you."

I smile and nod. Hot towels and high quality cocoa sure sound inviting after sitting out in this bleak weather. We stand up head back to Felicita's dorm, rubbing against her repeatedly. Thankfully my crush was over or it would have been a real flustering experience. She calls ahead to her roommates to prepare some warm towels for her too, and soon enough we arrive at her dorm.

"Take a seat at the couch, I'll be with you shortly." She tells me, and I climb onto the couch. Behind me Felicita talks to her roommates in the kitchen, something about the towels and some cocoa. Eventually she comes back with a nice hot plate of hand towels and she sits beside me and sets the towel plate to her side.

"Uh Felicita… Aren't you going to give me the towels?" I ask her, a bit perplexed. She takes one of the towels in her hands and begins to rub the warm cloth across my arm, sending shivers up my spine.

"F-Felicita… What are you doing?" I ask. I feel the butterflies coming back as her hands glide over my sensitive skin, striking my nerves in the best ways as her touch soaks up the cold and infuses me with a sense of inviting warmth. Oh it feels too wonderful, and soon enough my heart is once again thumping in my chest. I was back to square one. I was head over heels. Again.

Felicita briefly looks up from her work at me, her face solid and stoic, her hands on my leg. "What is it Yuki? Is this not a good reward? I was told that massages with warm towels were something people enjoyed."

I take a deep gulp and shake my head, "N-no… Please carry on. It's fine… Just unexpected."

Felicita nods and continues her work, making me melt under her touch. Thankfully she's polite enough to leave my would be girly bits alone, leaving my cover intact.

"If it is so unexpected," She muses, "Then perhaps your next reward will be made clearer."

I swear I feel a sweatdrop appear on my forehead at that moment. "No Felicita it's fine. You're doing just fine. "

Her blue haired roommate hands us both mugs of hot cocoa just now.

"Please enjoy," she says meekly and then departs. My cocoa has a spoon in it to keep it stirred with and I manage a first sip of the coca via the spoon, and my tastebuds dance at the chocolatey delight. It's by a long shot the best hot cocoa I have ever had, truly gourmet. I get nice and cozy on the couch. Felicita was giving me a wonderful massage, I was drinking delicious, sweet cocoa. Life was good, without worry. As hopeless as being in love with Felicita was, I am determined to make the most of it, especially by enjoying these moments to their fullest.

* * *

><p>I make my way to the hangars with a new liveliness in my step, one I can feel and definitely enjoy. It's been a few weeks since Felicita has started teaching me, and in those weeks I have never felt more alive. I am not sure if her lessons have taught me anything, or if I am just imprinting on her radiant confidence but never have I felt so self sure. I actually felt happy, and confident. Perhaps this was how normal people felt most of the time?<p>

This lesson was going to be during the afternoon, on a Friday. After a week of lessons, my lovestruck self asked for more lessons under the guise of wanting to learn more from her. So now I saw her after school on the days I didn't see her before school. It's like we are dating! Well… Almost.

I arrive at the hangars and Felicita is waiting there for me, standing next to a silver car. The badges tell me that it's Saab 900 Turbo.

"Ah Yuki. Excellent to see you have arrived," Felicita says in a rather pleasant tone. Her voice was much nicer when she didn't sound commanding and serious. "Today we will put you through a test, which will determine how well you have benefitted from our training," she explains to me.

A test huh? Well I guess it only makes sense that after having gone through these lessons I would have a test. I wonder what Felicita has in store for me.

Ten minutes and one foolishly signed waiver later I am strapped to the roof of the silver Saab, and Felicita is explaining the idea behind to me. Or at least, I hope that's what she's doing.

"Now it is most difficult to say no under stress, so the basic idea of this is to cause you as much stress as possible," she tells me, "I already have scouted out a place that will no doubt present you with many opportunities to test your will against approaching males. Any questions?"

"Uh Felicita, do you really think this is safe?" At this point I am actually starting to fear for my life. While duct tape has a reputation as being strong, I am still not entirely confident in it's ability to hold me to the roof of a moving car.

"I assure you it is completely safe. Illaria has reliably informed me this binding pattern will hold up to a hundred kilograms under forces up to 3 G's." She tells me, "So you will be entirely safe during this harrowing drive I will have you endure."

She gets into the car and I mutter to myself, "This seriously must be illegal…." But before I can make any last second protests, she floors the gas and we're off. I take two very deep breaths and hope Illaria's physics aren't flawed. Felicita first drives us through the training grounds, which have rough dirt roads made more rough by the treads of our tanks. As if the bumpy ride isn't bone rattling enough, she goes offroad a few times and once she even jumps off a hill and comes back to earth with a harsh landing, and I swear I hear the duct tape tearing, which sends a pulse of near perfect terror through my body.

Once we've completed a loop through the training grounds, Felicita goes blazing through the ship's city scape at full speed. School is over and very few students own cars to begin with, so there is very little to impede her perilous driving. At first I am quite upset with her for putting me through such peril, and as my heart pounds in my chest and my head spins I try to think of ways to get back at her for doing this to me. Suddenly though, once I got over the fact I am strapped on a car traveling what is certainly over the speed limit, I feel an odd sense of enjoyment. In the same way a roller coaster is fun, I start feeling less stressed and a bit more relaxed. Not to say that I am completely relaxed, but it eases me and takes my mind off the worries of traffic accidents, the duct tape coming loose, and my possible death.

**{Felicita}**

As I swerve around the corners, dancing a dangerous high speed dance though the ships streets, I can't help but feel worried about the young lady I have strapped on top of the vehicle. I know I needed to put pressure on her, but I am questioning my methods for some reason. It seems as though I felt some concern for her. It wasn't anything personal of course, I tell myself, no, it was just merely a professional concern for the safety of another student, nothing more.

Thankfully the bindings hold and we complete the circuit relatively safely, and I park the vehicle in front of one of the ship's seedier establishments. Of course given it was a high school, seedy was a relative term, but this particular bar was a favorite residence of some of our most reputable delinquents. It would certainly be a good proving ground for Yuki.

I step out of my Saab and retrieve an old Swedish army sword from Carolean era, from the back of the car, and use it to swiftly free Yuki of her bindings. I help her down off the car roof and inspect her for any trauma.

"You are alright, are you not?" I ask.

Yuki stumbles to her feet, evidently dizzied by the ride. "Well provided there isn't a halo above my head, I think I'm fine."

I almost smile at her slightly morbid humor, but only ever so briefly. I gesture to the bar. "Since our training began to help you resist unwanted advances, I think this is an excellent place to practice. Follow me."

I lead her inside, the bar has a sort of dim, yellowish orange lighting to it. We get to the main bar and I order Yuki and me a pair of soft drinks. As the bartender serves them up to us, I spot a young fellow in a black leather jacket, wearing a punkish haircut, and had several piercings, approaching us from Yuki's side. I nudge her gently and whisper to her.

"Alright I think we got one incoming. Make me proud Yuki."

The fellow approaches and I see Yuki visibly gulp. Perhaps it is too soon? Perhaps she hasn't learned enough yet? No. Just like in combat, life often throws challenges at you before you have everything in place, and Yuki needed to learn how to take things on like that.

The boy leans in close to Yuki and greets her by saying. "Hey sweet thing. You look a little lost in a place like this. Maybe I can show you where you need to go." He winks. At first Yuki's body language is meek and passive like her normal self, but only for a brief second before I detect a… A shift. She grabs the young man by the shirt and pulls him in aggressively, whispering something in his ear before letting go. His expression suddenly changes to one of total shock, his jaw hanging open like the maw of a stunned whale shark, his eyes wide as dinner plates.

"Y-You what?!" He asks in disbelief.

Yuki grins and shoves him out of the way forcefully, "And unless you want some of that, I suggest you scram!"

The young man quickly retreats to his table and I feel pride swelling in me. Yuki had done it. She stood up for herself. Another success under my belt, and surely the first of many for Yuki. I stand up and congratulate her.

**[Yuki]**

"That was an excellent showing Yuki," Felicita congratulates me, "I think you've passed this test handily."

I rub the back of my head sheepishly, "I-It was nothing. So if I passed are we headed back to our dorms?"

Felicita nods and stands up, leading us out of the unpleasant place. "Yes. I'll drive you back to your dormitory, then I will return my vehicle to the garages."

We climb into the car and Felicita sets off, this time at a nice mellow pace rather than the blazing speeds from earlier. As we go along I feel the desire to make light conversation with her. It seems I had proven myself to her, now maybe I could get her to warm up, even a little.

"So uh…that sure was one heck of a way to get me shaken up back there," I remark, "Not what I was expecting but uh… It sure blew me off my feet so to speak."

"Ah yes," Felicita looks at me a bit apologetic, "I am sorry if my extreme approach might have made you averse to the exercise. And I apologize for the danger I put you in."

"Ah it's no problem," I reply, "In fact… It provides some perspective. I know that I once contemplated suicide. Being that close to death makes me realize how much I don't want to die."

"Well good!" Felicita says rather suddenly, "I want you alive too!" She says with a surprising amount of emotion, and I swear I see rosey cheeks on her. "I mean uh…. Quitting should never be an option. Not in school, not with men, and certainly, above all, not with life. If there is one thing I want you to know, it's that you can never, ever, ever quit. You understand Yuki?"

"Yes Felicita, I understand," I say. My mind thinks back to my BT-7. It was a tough little tank, still going strong after all it had seen. It never gave up, never quit. And in the grand scheme of things it was what landed me here, crossdressing into tankery like this. I wanted to be like that. I wanted to never quit, to always push on.

"Felicita," I speak up, "I know it may seem odd, but I think I enjoyed out lessons. I want to do more. Certainly there is more to learn from you."

Felicita looks at me, a bit surprised but then with a satisfied look. "Yuki, you could not say anything else that would make me more joyous. I love nothing more than to help people improve, I thrive off it. I would be glad to impart more wisdom upon you." The face she wore was literally the driest, most unemotional face I had ever seen to be called joyous. Perhaps that made it even more genuine in a strange way.

Now I feel that strange, flustered sensation again. The butterflies, the urge to look away. I stare out the window to try and keep my mind off of the feelings, but all I can think of is Felicita. Man is she pretty… I shove those thoughts to the back of my head. I can't let this little crush control me.

I realize I still have my wallet on me. And before my common sense can kick in, my mouth is already moving. This dumb little schoolgirl crush is now starting to take over my body...

"It is getting a bit late. Care for dinner?"

She looks at me a bit surprised for a moment before responding, "Of course I would. You don't have to give me anything though Yuki, your success and growth is it's own reward."

"Oh, it's nothing. I decided it would be the nice thing to do. I mean, I did take up a large portion of your time."

Felicita nods slowly, "You know of any good places nearby?"

"Well there's a good Italian place around here," I say, "Kind of odd to find on a former Swedish ship but they still have good food. You like Italian?"

"Ah yeah," Felicita replied, "I like it a lot actually. Where is this place?"

"It's just down the road," I tell her, "You turn right at the next stoplight and keep going. I'll tell you where it is."

For once, it's me guiding Felicita as we head to the restaurant. We pull up to the restaurant, which is embellished with classic Italian decor. As we step inside, my mind is racing, finally having caught wind of exactly what my strange mind has been doing. Noticing that I have essentially asked Felicita out for a date, I start hoping that my cover would not been blown. Hikari has constantly warned me of the differences in personality of the two different sexes, and asking the other out to dinner wasn't in the list of womanly things. Well, I am already committed, so I order and counted his money. I should have enough for the two of us.

**{Felicita}**

As we're seated at the restaurant I can't help but note how odd it is that Yuki has invited me out for dinner for the evening. Such a practice was uncommon among girls as far as I knew, or at least far more common in social groups rather than just two girls, as it were in this case. Still, my casual social interactions are not as prolific as they should be.

I make my order light, not wanting to strain Yuki's wallet. It would be rude to indulge on someone elses fnds after all. And besides, I have put her through enough already, this kindness was something extra, something I was impressed she had the heart to do. And despite the fact the back of my mind is telling me she wants to get in close to me for ulterior motives, my intuition says otherwise, that she isn't doing it for personal gain. I decide I should find out why then, she chose to take me here. Why she chose to be so kind.

"Yuki, why are being so...friendly and kind to me? I want to know exactly why. What led you to want to do this?" I ask, my curiosity burning.

"Well, you are pretty nice to me, trying to help me and all. Although your tactics seem... Unique, I sensed that you really wanted to help me. I guess this is just paying you back. You know, for a person who I once thought was a bit too serious, you are actually really kind" she tells me. I feel something strange in my heart at those words.

"Me? Kind? You...you really mean it?" I ask unsure. I have been called strict, disciplined, anal retentive, demanding, and many other things. But not kind, nor anything remotely close. Is this girl just flattering me, or did she really mean it?

"Of course I mean it. If you weren't kind, you wouldn't have offered to help me."

**[Yuki]**

I look back at my life. A whole part of me crossdressing was to hide away from my past. Back in grade school, I would be bullied about being too girly or not being tough enough. Most of the "cures" I was forced to go through were just excuses to beat me up. Felicita's cure on the other hand, didn't seem to hurt me too bad. I have to admit, I am a bit too easy to influence. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I put up with Felicita's training. He want to prove to _myself_ that I could tough it out.

Now that I think of it, me and Felicita seemed like opposites. Ying and Yang. One "too tough", the other "too soft". The old adage, "Opposites attract" runs through my mind. Maybe there was more to my attraction for her than just a silly, fleeting crush? My thoughts are interrupted by the waiter arriving with our food.

**{Felicita}**

I thank our waiter for our food and start to eat while pondering. Kind. The word rings in my head like a bell, or something else that rings. I rarely had been praised for anything besides my work, and even when I had been, I rejected it. I was always so unhappy with myself, always seeing another thing I could do better, another skill to pick up. For me, life seemed to be an endless cycle of improvement and not feeling good enough, all thanks to my own self. This girl sees things in me I had never seen in myself, never thought I was capable of. I felt a strange feeling in my stomach, unlike any I'd felt before, and suddenly I can't look Yuki in the eyes. What was this strange feeling?

Suddenly I feel something splatter on me and my mind spirals back down to earth. I look down at myself and to my horror I have somehow managed to splatter pasta all over my meticulous uniform whilst I had been internalizing my thoughts.

I look over at Yuki and she's handing me a napkin with a smile on her face. "No worries."

"No worries?" I ask her aghast, "I can't be seen in public like this!" And I certainly couldn't be seen in front of Yuki like this. Before I can think better of it, I get up and bolt out of the restaurant, leaving Yuki behind me.

**[Yuki]**

I sigh as I watch Feli run out the door. Who would have thought getting a little messy could throw such a strong girl for a loop? I pay our bill and calmly follow her outside. It was a good thing she broke down before she cleaned her suit, leaving a nice trail of pasta for me to follow. Otherwise, I might not have known to have looked where I found her.

She's sitting on a bench behind the restaurant, legs pulled up to her chest and her head resting on her knees. Upon seeing me she averts her eyes.

"Felicita," I call out to her, "Felicita it's alright, no need to be upset."

She let's out a small huff and averts her eyes further. So she didn't want to talk then. I need to get through to her, and what I do is something that surprises even me. I sit next to her, and wrap my arm around her shoulders, and try to calm her down. "It happens to everyone!" I tell her, "Sometimes you just have to deal with what life throws at you with a smile. Here, if you want, I can wash the suit for you..."

She looks at me with a mixture of shock and chagrin, "I appreciate the offer… It's just… This never happens to me. Not once have I ever slipped up in view of the public. Not like this. It's the first time I ever screwed up like that. God I sound so weak don't I?" She says, sniffing, holding back tears

So I give Felicita a hug. At this point my common sense is screaming at me to remain more girl-like, but my conscious tells me that Felicita needs some support. Again, the butterflies flare up, and I give Felicita a peck on the cheek. Realizing what I have done, I fear that my cover has been blown. There is no way this would pass as something a girl would do. But on the other hand, if I was to have any hope of following through on my silly crush, she would have to know.

**{Felicita}**

Yuki wraps her arms around me and I feel my stomach tumbling with the strange sensation from earlier. What was this odd feeling? It was tingly and fuzzy, and tickled in my chest. Then she planted a kiss on my cheek and my heart almost stops. Her lips were soft, and felt like wonderful warm pads against my cheeks. And now my stomach tumbles even fast, the strange feeling now hot and piercing too too. What was going on? What was I feeling for this girl?

"Um… I… You… I… What...You… I… Um...But you are… I am...What?" Is all I can muster for a response in my state.

I feel her hug me tighter, pressing our bodies closer together. "I understand... Let's just say there's quite a bit you don't know about me." Yuki releases her grip and pulls me back up onto my feet. "It really is late now. We should get back."

Grateful and confused, I nod. "Thanks. I have never met anyone so compassionate as you," I say as I get back in the car. As we're headed back, I try to place that feeling Yuki's kiss and hug had given me. And my mind seems to settle upon a word. Smitten. The state of being struck by feelings of affection in such a way that left one rendered shocked or blown away. As much as I didn't want to admit it, that described me perfectly at the moment. But I didn't like girls like that, so it couldn't be. Could it?

I stow my questions and focus on driving Yuki back to her dorm. It had been a long night for both of us, and I was happy to end it. But even after I had dropped Yuki off at her dorm she remained with me. She just wouldn't get out of my mind. Or my heart.


	8. Chapter VIII

**~{Miyuki}~**

I adjust my glasses as I enter the darker interior of Sabaton Academy. The usually stark, empty, steel corridors buzz with activity as members of the Naval Studies department rush about to prepare the ship for its first voyage in decades.

Unlike on the ship's living deck, down here I blend in nicely in the Naval Uniform I share with the other NS girls. A tight-knit black sweater which was usually a bit loose and a red kerchief overtop, tied around the neck. Underneath, a white shirt with gold collar and a matching white, short pleated skirt. Knee-high socks were also standard but girls could opt for longer ones if they so desired. Finally my feet are adorned with black shoes which have reinforced toes and are more utilitarian than the usual Mary-Janes common among the uniforms of other schools. In my case, the only thing to distinguish me from the other girls uniforms is the orange armband worn over my right bicep, signifying my position on the student council.

I find one of the down staircases and begin the long trek deeper into the ship's interior where the noises from other levels are congregating.

Although the sounds are quite jumbled the general feeling of excitement is easy to discern and it elicits a rare smile from me. Ever since Felicita had enacted this grand plan, there has been a sense of excitement and purpose for the Naval Studies group aboard a previously dock bound ship, making it a hardly fulfilling experience for them, so everyone is quite energetic despite the hard work trying to get the old tub running. Speaking of which, that is the task I am currently working on, finding out the ships current status and when we could launch.

I work my way further in and stop at one of the decks to take a breather from the stairs, taking a more lateral route. I take a moment to stop and check on the secondary communications centres to give myself an idea of what's going on.

It's chaos as girls flounder about trying to gather and deliver paperwork, manage data from old computers and filter calls through the ship's large engineering section. Sitting at one of the electric switchboards is a familiar orange haired girl.

Matilda Mayfield exudes a completely different aura from her usual shy, unsure self. Here she mans her station with total focus on her task and with a confidence that seems to rival Felicita herself. Her ability to multitask is amazing as she answers and directs calls, trying to get everyone to talk to whom they need to talk to. She is almost robotically efficient at the task, dividing her attention not only between the flood of incoming calls, but also communicating with the other girls in the room to make sure everyone is aware of her own situation, and making sure they are aware of hers.

Satisfied with how things were going, I leave the room and continue my way to the engine rooms and the titanic power plants that drove the ship.

Even before I actually reach it, I feel the increased heat. It is one of the warmer areas of the ship and most of the girls here go through a lot of physical work, making it a rather sweaty environment. Most girls in this section wear overalls while on duty and often wear nothing but their underwear underneath them to help keep themselves that much cooler.

Looking around I tried to find a particular girl and imagined she'd be fairly easy to pick out among the general crew of girls in the engine room. My search brought me to what was probably the hottest part of the ship outside of an oven or perhaps one of the workshops: the boiler room.

I pick out one skyscraper of a girl overlooking them all and call out to her.

"Hey, Dakota! You have a minute?"

The huge braided girl is currently tending to a boiler crew and helping them keep their unit stable, though her advice seems to yo-yo between sound engineering advice and some rather nonsensical things.

"Now you got to remember to pull the lever back to the left just a smidge after adjusting it to make sure you didn't bind it up," she instructs them, then pulls a small charm bracelet from her pocket and ties it around the control levers base. "And don't forget the proper magical charms, otherwise the gremlins will gum it up."

She twirls happily around to face me and waves cheerfully to me. Normally even more shy than Tilly, she had shifted to a cheerful and eccentric side of her that you'd never see outside these depths of the ship she seemed to act so naturally in.

"Hey, hey, Mimi, how are you doing?"

"Don't call me 'Mimi'" I snapped, "I'm your senior and a member of the Student Council."

Dakota shrinks back a little. "B-but I call everyone fun names!" Dakota pouts at me, "anyway's, what is it you need, Mimiyuki?"

I grit my teeth and decide to put Dakota's eccentricities aside for now. "I'm here doing an inspection, we're supposed to be launching the ship today and I need to know we're ready. Are the boilers in condition for a sea voyage?"

Dakota bobs her head, "Yep yep! We got the boilers humming and happy, but I think three of them may be a little sick, they're taking an awful long time to come up to pressure. I think there may be hydra eggs in the intake valves. It's probably just built up lime deposits though, everyone knows hyrdas are uncommon this far North. A few good hours of operating time and some cleaner should clear it out."

I sighed and tried to avoid commenting on Dakota's absurdities. "Just let me know by noon if we'll have full power, we can't put to see if we're not fully seaworthy. It took a lot to get this far. I don't care how you do it, just make sure everything down here is ship-shape alright?"

Dakota bounces a little and gives a cheerful salute, "Yes Ma'am! We'll have it ready to sail by the end of the day!"

"Good then, I'm sure everyone, especially the president will be happy to hear that. Anything else to report? Any problems you've been having let me know now."

"There are some other issues, but you'll have to talk to the individual crews." Dakota tells me, "I don't micromanage unless they ask for helpsies. Other than that I got nothin more to say!"

"Oh alright then, I suppose I should check with the janitorial division, they're probably understaffed at the moment with all these preparations and the extra help we need. I'll be off then, see you."

I walked off, leaving Dakota behind and headed out of the sweltering boiler room, feeling like a pig on a stick by the time I left. Walking a bit further I saw a pair of girls standing underneath an open air vent, holding up a garbage bag to the opening. I was about to ask what they were doing until I heard some grunting and then a large mound of dust and crud fell out of the opening into the plastic bag.

"We got a bullseye." One of the girls announced.

Now I had to know what was going on. "May I ask what you girls are up to?"

Startled they turn and look at me. "Oh um, we're just cleaning the air vents. They're a bit crusted so we can't just use the vacuum system. We're using our dust plow instead."

I looked at them strangely. "Dust plow?"

"Up here."

I look up hearing the new voice and look straight into a familiar pair of playful green eyes. "Milly? I thought you couldn't fit in the air vents!"

"Oh it's a bit snug but that's kinda why I'm in here. See I'm small enough that I can make the turns easy enough but my boobs are big enough that when I lay down in here I can put them on a scrubbing mat so that when I crawl they act like a plow, getting all the crud the settled and sticks to the bottom. The rest can be cleaned out with air."

Just when I thought my conversation with Dakota would be the strangest today, Milly decides to one-up her. "You'd better be wearing your safety gear in there!"

"Oh yeah don't worry, I've got my mask and air tank in here with me. I just wanted some real air for a bit. You know, take a breather?" She grinned from ear to ear at her own little joke; very little.

I sigh. "Look I'm just making sure everyone is on schedule for today. We're launching before the day is out you know."

"Believe me, we do," one of the other girls said.

"Don't worry Miyuki," Milly chirps, "thanks to our new plow method, we're actually ahead of schedule! Don't worry about us, the janitorial department is on the job!"

"Well that's good to hear," I sigh. "Well, keep up the good work then, I'll see you later."

"Yup, later."

I leave them to their work and start looking through the list on my tablet to check who else I have to see, but before I even realize that, I acknowledge that today was going to be my longest day.

**{Felicita}**

I step out of my dorm and begin to walk briskly down the corridors to the ships command bridge. The ship is about to undock, on it's way to participate in the European Junior Tankery Tournament. Our first step in broadening the horizons for the school and its programs. This was the kind of thing I had worked my two prior years for. To see the results of having worked myself to the bone, it would be beautiful, a thing of pride and joy.

Of course it's not just for my own prides sake I am going to oversee the ships launch. I need the students to know I am still passionate about and involved in this endeavour, that I am still with them. It's as much for morale as anything else. Morale is a very important aspect of keeping a unit in tip top shape after all.

Just then I hear rapid footsteps approaching behind me, and I turn my head slightly to determine who it might be.

"Hey Felicita."

I almost stop at hearing that voice. That sweet, honeyed voice, that voice which had caused me so much trouble and confusion as of late. As much as I tried to keep the strange feelings in the back of my head, they seemed to crawl from the woodwork of my mind whenever I saw or heard her. I turn my head further and sure enough there she is. Yuki.

"Greetings, Yuki. May I ask what manner of business brings you to my presence. We do not have any instructional time allotted for another two days."

Yuki rubs the back of her head and sends a pleasant smile my way, and while it seems forced, it also seems very genuine.

"Uh, no, I wasn't here to talk about our lessons Felicita," she replies, "I actually just wanted to walk and chat with you. You know just as uh… Associates. Or whatever you call people you work with that aren't friends."

That stings me a little, and the fact that it stings me, stings in its own way. Among my strange feelings for Yuki was the feeling of guilt at rejecting her as a friend. Certainly I'd never felt such qualms over denying friendship before, but this was different.

"Well… In relative terms we are friends," I state. Why would I say something like that? Why was I compelled to make an exception for Yuki?

"Relative terms?" Yuki asks curiously.

"Yes relative terms," I nod, "as in, you may be a pupil of mine, but our interaction is closer to a personal level than most. You see, think of relations between people as a scale. Let's say from one to ten, since it's a common and easy to use metric. We'll say one is the furthest from personal relationships while ten is a full blown romantic relationship. However for me, my scale cuts off at five, before we enter the side of the scale that deals with friendly, affectionate relations. You Yuki are a five. The closest thing my metric of personal relations allows to friendship, without it actually being such. So relative to others who have interacted with me, our relation could be considered friendly." I pause, then add, "That doesn't mean I have any friendly feelings towards you, so don't go misinterpreting my generosity as weakness!"

Why was I saying these things? The words coming out of my mouth, are things my brain hasn't cognitized. Was this my subconscious speaking? Maybe it was like what happened with other people, who would say they talked before they thought? Was this me talking before I had mentally mapped out my statements?

Yuki's smile this time is more small, petite. It seems to speak of light amusement rather than joy.

"That's great Feli. I am glad I could… Be that for you," she says, "I mean, I'm just trying to… Ya know, be thankful for how you've helped me."

I feel a sensation in my chest, like my heart is being squeezed gently. Every time Yuki was so graciously thankful for what I did it seemed to happen. But why? Why was Yuki so gracious about accepting my help, and why did I feel weird whenever she did it? And why did it feel as if I was craving more of it?

"Well it was only the right thing to do Yuki," I tell her, "I help people, I win fights with righteous cause. I merely do what anyone with my authority should do with their power."

"Ah. Well that's very noble of you Felicita. I'm glad you were here to help me out," she says. I don't have anything further to say and a silence soon falls upon us, the impacts of our shoes upon the hard metal deck echoing through the hallways. Yuki doesn't look at me, seeming content to divert her eyes to the ground.

After a few minutes, three perhaps, I decide that perhaps it would be better if there were some conversation. Maybe bringing up a subject comfortable for both of us might provide the enjoyment Yuki had intended to bring to me by accompanying me through the halls.

"So Yuki," I begin, "I know you explained that you've been interested in tankery for a good portion of your life. I can tell that for you it's more than just a class, it's a passion."

Yuki perks up and nods, noticeably eager to discuss the topic. "It is! Like I said, ever since I can remember I've always been fascinated by it. It did uh," Her look turns a shade of disconsolate, and she sighs deeply, "Unfortunately it kinda got me some bad attention when I was younger."

"Bad attention?" I ask her, "Why would that be? Surely it's not unusual for young girls to take an interest in tankery."

"Well tankery is one of those things that isn't… Cool… When you're younger," she explains to me, "And most of my troubles were from the boys. You know how they are. Everything about girls to them is icky and weird, and I only had my two friends to protect me." Discussing the matter Yuki seems quite morose, but her tone changes to a more find one upon bringing up her friends.

"Your other crew members? Hikari and Yunko correct?"

She nods. "Yeah. Yunko was the one who told me I could be whoever I wanted, and Hikari was the one who helped me be it. But I really never was able to be it without their help. Until now," she says. We both knew she is referring to my help, and there was a sort of silent acknowledgement of the fact between us. Even when it was silent I could feel Yuki's gratitude tugging my chest.

"Yes well, I guess what matters is that it worked in the end. The means are not relevant so long as your goal is reached," I state, adding, "Barring, of course, morally unscrupulous actions, but I hardly think a girl like yourself would have resorted to such things. Now enough of that talk, shall we engage in banter about tankery?"

Yuki smiles cheesily at me, "Yeah. I guess you could say we should be getting back on track." She giggles a bit at her pun and I can't help but smile a bit. The wordplay was indeed what some would dub as awful, but it was a good wordplay nonetheless.

"Yes I suppose we should." I pause for a moment, then decide to exact an equilibrium in regards to the aspect of bad humor about us, "I suggest we discuss the Turan. I hear its history is most riveting."

Yuki expels a burst of uproarious laughter, snorting a few times before collecting herself. "Wow Felicita I didn't… Oh I'm sorry it's just," She rubs her eye, "I didn't even think you had it in you. No offense, but you seem way too… Serious to make a joke like that."

"Just because humor finds no application in my line of work doesn't indicate I lack an understanding," I tell her, "Additionally, my secretary is constantly trying to use her's on me, so I have a ready source of exposure."

For some reason, making that awful, not even witty joke, and getting a good laugh out of Yuki, gave me an odd feeling. It felt good, it made me feel loose and at ease. I wanted to feel frightened, that I was so vulnerable, that I was so laid back and upbeat all of a sudden. It was wholly unnatural! But I was so laid back and upbeat I couldn't bring myself to be worried!

"Okay," Yuki says once she's fully collected, "So, bad jokes aside, what's your favorite tank?"

"Definitely the Renault FT," I reply quickly, "It's an amazing machine, and it is the sole reason armor as we know it exists today. For it's time, it could be considered a super weapon, in a sense. Not in the ability of one single units ability to affect a battle, but in the type of warfare it enabled."

"Good choice," Yuki nods, "Very good. My favorite tank is French too. The AMX 13 90. It's a damn fine looking tank, it's fast, slim, a real work of art as much as it is a weapon. It's not as clumsy or random as a hulking heavy tank. An elegant weapon."

"Well I am not entirely sure how a weapon could be elegant," I remark, "And these days tanks are hardly weapons. They're tools we use to educate young women and create enjoyable sports. But I suppose if it were to be thought of as a weapon, there is some elegance to the idea of a light tank. It requires a great thinker, a good tactical mind to employ. You can't just advance straight at the enemy like a medium or heavy tank. It is a weapon that requires mastery. And a weapon used with mastery is elegant."

Yuki gives me somewhat of an odd look. "Wow Felicita. Do you like to… Ruminate, out loud like that often?"

I shrug. "It's not uncommon. Usually my thoughts just lead me to it along the natural course discussion flows upon. Is it bothering you?"

Yuki shakes her head, "Not at all. You're actually kind of cute when you do it, really." Yuki suddenly covers her mouth and her face begins to redden, and once again I feel my heart beat just a few beats faster and the strange feelings coming back. They were warm, and tingling like before, and before I can get a response formed the entire ship staggers, likely released from the tension of it's moorings and I lose my footing. I begin to topple over but suddenly I feel two arms hook under mine and Yuki's body press against my back, arresting my fall. However I also feel her hand cup around my breasts, grasping them as her body tenses up to hold me. I gasp sharply, her hands closing around my small breasts, encompassing every inch of them, evokes a wild reaction from my nerves and before I know it my heart is pounding in my ears and my face is so hot red I can feel the warmth.

"A-Are you alright?" Yuki asks as I regain my footing and she lets go of me.

"I-I-I," I stammer, not able to respond and barely able to hear hear over the thunder of my own heart. Not to mention the strange, warm and tingling feelings have come crashing back. They haven't been this strong since she gave me that kiss on the cheek. I need to leave, before I made a fool of myself again.

"I think I should proceed the rest of the way on my own!" I reply hastily, and abscond down the corridor before she has a chance to respond. I check over my shoulder a few times afterwards to make sure she hasn't followed me. It's at this point that I ecompass myself in a mental redoubt, a safe stronghold in my mind away from the turbulence of my feelings regarding Yuki.

Possibly one of the most immediate and most prominent things that worried me about my feelings for Yuki is that they could be romantic ones, which would make me….

I shake my head at the thought. No, it was too weird. I couldn't be lesbian. I knew myself, inside and out, top to bottom, and that was not something I was. Not that there was anything wrong with the sexual orientation in principal, I just didn't want to be one. It was strange, a concept which I was able to accept in others but never grasp myself. In simple terms, to me it just felt weird.

But no weirder than the feelings I was feeling for Yuki. Were they truly romantic? Was I genuinely smitten for another female? The questions swirl about in my head, and as I try to answer them the answers branch off into smaller questions forming a confusing web of unanswered thoughts inside my previously secure mental fortress.

Perhaps it wasn't totally on account of a sexuality change. Perhaps it was, at its core, an act of Yuki. Perhaps she had managed to entrench herself in my head so well that my heart wished to make an exception for her. What if I didn't like girls, just Yuki? The thought frightens me far more than any change of sexuality, as it meant Yuki had a powerful hold over me. She'd managed with kindness and an open heart what years of frontal assaults from my opponents had failed to achieve.

But if I knew I was being strung along, could it really be that much of a threat? After all, as long as I knew what she was really up to I could prevent her from leading me astra-

Ouch.

My thought train comes flying off the rails in a thunderous derailment. It's as if a hand has reached from the back of my subconscious and delivered a most sharp blow to the most active regions of my mind. But for what? I can only assume it's over my brief paranoid mental track about Yuki. Perhaps my subconscious is telling me not to accuse her of subterfuge, that the problem lies with me? My subconscious has never been wrong, but it has never been very direct, it's messages require some amount of extrapolation. And thus I have to infer that this it what it meant. I was the one with the problem, not Yuki.

Even saying that though I can't help but feel a little bitter at Yuki in a way. I was totally stable and had mental serenity before this. I had vanquished my prior problems, and for once I looked forward to a year of nothing but progress. Now Yuki had ensured that would be mired in emotional turmoil. Did she enjoy seeing me so confused, unsure as to what her affections meant, and even less sure about what my own feelings that stemmed from her affections meant? I feel robbed in a way. Even if Yuki had the best of intentions she robbed me of something I had slaved to get: peace. I was no longer fighting things. People loved me for what I did, they revelled in the new era I brought for the school. Now Yuki comes along and-

Ouch.

My subconscious slaps me once more, and this time I know exactly what for. I was sounding petulant, like a preschooler whining about someone saying something mean that hurt their feelings. I know it's petty and childish, though I can't say it's without reason. My foes had thrown every nasty attack in the book at me, and failed. So why was something so generous and sweet what caused me so much trouble? What did it all mean?

As I turn the corner in the hall I am pulled out of my mire of thought at the sight of a pair of familiar faces. It's Komo and Rei, the crew of the 14TP tank on our tankery team. I witness them embracing, and then they do something that catches my eye. They exchange a kiss upon the cheek between them. Immediately my mind is brought back to Yuki's kiss she gave me, and now something in me feels some questioning of these two might help discern the nature of Yuki's gesture.

"You two!" I call to them, "I wish to speak with you!" The two girls virtually jumped as I called out to them and turned to look at me suddenly looking rather anxious.

"You… Need something?" Komo asks, regaining her composure. Rei is holding her arm gently, was she offering support?

"Yes," I nod, facing them, "You can relax, you are have not earned my ire with a manner of transgression. I wish to know the nature of your relationship. Is it a romantic or platonic one?"

Komo's eyes furrow angrily. "So what if it's romantic, I don't need-" She stops as Rei gently grasps her shoulder.

"It's alright Komo. I'm sure if we explain properly she'll understand." Rei steps in front of Komo and looks at me with calm, serene eyes.

"Komo and I are childhood friends, we've known each other for as long as we can remember. We are intimate friends, people who can show their greatest vulnerabilities with each other and share our deepest secrets and troubles. We love each other, as dear friends, intimate companions and confidants. We would slave and die for each other. That's how good and close we are. Not everyone understands so it leads to misconceptions, but it doesn't matter, we won't change how we show our love just because people don't understand it."

I tap my chin thoughtfully, "So… If I am extrapolating correctly, you are in a romantic relationship, but it is not a carnal relationship? More in line with the older definition of romance, which encompassed more than just sexual partners."

Komo grits her teeth. "Didn't you hear a word she said? We're not lesbians!"

Rei put a hand up. "Please, Komo, it's not easy for people who haven't had such a close friend to understand, at least in our modern society. She looks back at me.

"Yamaguchi-Sama," She began enacting the practice of using honorifics, a protocol rarely used on Sabaton, "We are not in a romantic relationship, we both desire a life partner to create a family with, that is we want a husband someday. We are friends, closer than sisters." She walked a bit closer to me. "You see, there are problems a woman can only share with another woman, no matter how close she is to her husband and no matter how hard he tries or how much he loves her he won't be able to help her. Men simply can't understand some of the problems a woman has, or at least can't understand our perspective. For such times, having a close intimate friend is a precious thing, someone who you can trust with everything and rely on. It's the same with men too. After all there are issues and problems they have that they could never share with a woman either. If you've ever heard of blood brothers, I think that's what it might be."

"So then," I take it all in again, absorbing her speech like a sponge, "You're saying you love each other even though you're not in a romance, and that it is a healthy thing for young women to have."

"Of course. Don't you want someone who won't judge you or someone you can share your burdens with? Someone who will catch you if you fall, a friend who will correct you and stop you if they think you're going down the wrong path? There are some things a dear friend can do that even a spouse can not. How you show your love doesn't matter, what matters is your heart and how you feel. Having such a person in your life or more than one, is a wonderful thing and it makes life so much more bearable. Komo has saved me many times, and has more than earned my friendship. I love her, and I can say that to anyone without shame, regardless of whether they understand it or not."

I hadn't bargained on getting such an emotional, in-depth explanation of a simple cheek kiss, but Rei's patience and explanations had provided me a wealth of information that I could use to further deduce the nature of my feelings for Yuki. Perhaps it was nothing more than this type of love, and my worries about my sexuality were unfounded. At the same time, there was a voice in the back of my head that said this wasn't the case, that this wouldn't be the end of my troubles with Yuki.

"I… I need to think," I say with trepidation, "Girls, thank you very much for responding helpfully to my inquiries, you have contributed a great deal to resolving a current issue of mine and I will try to find some way to show my gratitude."

"Oh not at all," Rei assured me, "After all, we like to try and avoid misconceptions, even if simply telling people we're lesbians might be the simpler solution," she glanced back at Komo, "But nobody said life or friendship was easy, and it hasn't been. Still, we're getting through it. Feel free to talk to us if you have any more related questions, we'd love to help you with such a problem. It can be… Difficult to wrap your head around."

"There is an almost painful amount of truth on that statement," I reply, bowing politely, "Good day ladies." I turn around and head back along my way. The information had eased my mind for the moment, but I could already tell it was just a cease fire, not a peace treaty. The battle in my mind was far from over, but at least I now had another weapon to help me end it.

**/Emmett\**

The hangars are quite quiet as me and the rest of the mechanics team arrive there. Today is launch day, the day we finally get out of dock and onto the open ocean like a normal school ship. Our first destination seems to be Europe from what I hear the girls saying. Apparently the Prez got us into a nice and easy Junior grade tournament to help stoke the fires of our little tankery club.

Being the day where all hands are needed at their stations, we didn't have practice, and since we were all in general studies, not any of the courses that would matter to a ships operation, we decided to take it as a free period to hang out, chat, and have food on top of the tank. I have a picnic blanket draped over the top of the Semovente, with Noah. The only thing that matched his sharp tongue and sour attitude most of the time was his wit. Across from me on one side is the Turan, with Shaun upon its top, the Scotsman who joined up recently. On the other side, to my right, is blonde sunglasses kid. That's what we call him, since he says that he's so cool he can't have it heard that he was anywhere near a girls sport like tanks, and thus his name must remain unsaid.

It seems that among us, Shaun and me are the only ones who are up to this without more or less being drafted. Well, there were some incentives for me to join, but ultimately the choice had been mine and I took it in stride. And I don't see why I wouldn't have. I've met a whole lot of really nice girls, and I've got a front row seat to some good sports action. Girl sports are still sports right? Not that I was ever any good at sports, but I know a good game when I see one.

I don't know Shaun all that well yet, but as far as I can tell, his reasons for being on the mechanical team are related to his connections with the other transfers. Apparently he's been fixing things up for them for quite some time.

"Hey guys," Blonde Sunglasses Kid says casually, munching on a taco, "So now that we don't have those girls everywhere, how about a little man talk?"

"Oh yaaaaaaaay," Noah responds in his usual voice, which for him meant dripping with acidic sarcasm. "I've been waiting for so long! Finally we can compare dick sizes!"

I shake my head at him and Blonde Sunglasses Kid facepalms, "Ugh, that's not what I meant. You have about the humor of a twelve year old."

"Oh sorry," Noah says with a burning insincerity, "So what other sort of manly things do you wish to speak about, He-Man?"

"It doesn't have to be especially manly," I interject, getting my food out, a delicious ham and cheese sandwich, "Why don't we just talk about something we all appreciate. Hey Shaun, got any ideas?"

"Huh?" He looked over from his sandwich which looked to be two thin slices of bread and a thick slab of meat. "Well, I guess we could talk about lassies. I mean I'm sure they talk about boys all the time so we could say which girls we like, swear on the bro code."

"You have to swear on a code to talk about girls?" Noah crosses his arms, "Last time I checked none of you chuckleheads were the type to go gossip mongering all our crushes. But if it makes you feel better, I swear, by the Testament of Bro, that I shall not speak thy crushes in vain."

"Ditto," Blonde Sunglasses Kid replies quickly.

"Yeah sure," I agree.

"If we're talking good looking babes around here," Blondie resumes talking as if my reply had been a part of his own speaking, "I definitely have to go with that Flanders girl. Girls got some world class hips, and a fiery temper to. I like a girl with a bit of bite."

"If you're looking for bite, you can't go wrong with a Scottish lass I'll tell you that much." Shaun laughed. "Pure bite, you'd be looking at Brienne. Mags has a temper but not as bad as her."

"Yeah, but that Brienne girl is so much bite I'm afraid I might end up with a castration while getting a blow job if I look at her funny," Blondie remarks, "Still, I might try to ask her out if I wanna push my charms and my luck to the absolute limit. Maggie is a definite. If I can't hook a date with Flanders I might just make a pass at her."

"Suit yourself," Noah shrugs, "I'll send cards to the funeral of your little man if anything goes wrong."

"Just don't push it too far and hurt Mags," The Scot threatens, "She's like a sister to me, and while I'm all for her getting a boy of her own, I'm not for said boy to abuse her."

"Calm down Shaun Connery," Blondie says, "I am many things, many awesome things, but I treat my women like the fine prized things they are." He turns to look at me, "So how about you Emmett? You haven't said much."

I rub the back of my head, "Well to tell the truth, I think that Matilda is rather nice looking, and she seems so sweet."

Noah looks at me with shock so genuine that coming from him, it seems almost fake. "Are you pulling our legs? She looks like a ten year old!"

"Well she's fourteen, same as me!" I point out.

"Yeah but still, I would hope you like your women looking like women," Noah says.

"Well if it makes you feel any better my next choice is her friend Amelia. Milly as she likes to be called." I respond a little defensively.

"That's hardly any better," He sighs, "She also looks like a ten year old, one with," He holds his hands on front of his chest, cupped to indicate a bosom, "Huge tracts of land."

"Breasts make nice pillows," Shaun speaks up, "Back at the academy, I shared a room with the lasses and every now and then Mags would let me rest on hers when I needed to study for an exam. With hers I'm sure you can get a good night's sleep and then some. What about you Noah?"

"Well since I am obliged to participate in this circlejerk," He bites his lip, "I gotta say Yuki. Girl's got a nice slim figure, but enough meat to look girlish," He says, his voice suddenly free of any sarcasm. It's almost like listening to a completely new voice. "Plus she's got grade A hair and eyes. Mesmerizing even."

"Yuki huh?" I say, "Yeah she really does have some nice hair on her. Very long and feminine. And she always dresses decently while still being attractive."

"Fair enough. I guess it's my turn to say who I like then, eh?" Shaun sighs and leans back. "You know… Even though she sucks at picking guys up, it's a fair bit adorable how Eleonore tries so hard."

"Eh," Noah shakes his head, "Not my type. I prefer my women to look like women, and Ele kinda looks like a… No offense but she kinda looks manly."

"I don't think so," I speak up, "I agree with Shaun. She's made more than a few passes at me. I think she seems like a great girl, I really do, but I just don't have the heart to tell her I'm not her type. And she's got a very nice looking tan I might add."

"I'm gonna entertain her." The Scot says, shrugging. "I think she's worth taking a chance with."

"Well good luck with that," I wish him genuinely. It was nice to see someone having a chance at getting a girl.

"Hey guys, not to interrupt, but we got a girl incoming," Blondie says, pointing to a short approaching blonde. I look over and realize that it's Milly, the tiny, busty driver of the very tank I am enjoying the day on. And she certainly lives up to the aspects of child like stature and gargantuan bust. I never have asked her about her measurements, but if I had to take a guess, I'd put her at about 130 centimeters and an F-cup bust. She's wearing her Naval Studies uniform as usual but lacking the sweater that usually comes with it, wearing only her sailor shirt which did nothing to hide her large breasts and caused it to ride up so much it even shows a sliver of midriff.

"Well, well" Milly says as she walks up to us. "Here I come wanting to thank you all for your hard work and I see you all lazing around doing nothing while the rest of us bust our backs, or in my case, more so than usual." Her stern tone is not matched by the playful smile on her face. "So what are you handsome gentleman actually up to?"

"Oh nothing, nothing," I say casually, "Just having a bite to eat and enjoying the wind blowing past our faces. Nothing but us and the beautiful weather." I pause, then pat the top of the Semovente, "Oh, and the tanks of course."

"So I see. Think you could spare a tiny morsel for a tiny, hungwy girl? Being a dust plow is hard work."

Milly makes that sickeningly adorable face she makes whenever she wants anything. It's enough to give anyone diabetes. I pull a handful of maple cookies from my bag and toss them to her. "Catch."

She catches them and when she sees what they are her eyes widen. "Where did you get these?" she gasps, "You can't get these outside of Canada unless you import them!"

"My Mom sends me them in monthly care packages," I explain, grinning at her happily, "She always did like to spoil me when it came to my sweet tooth."

"Dawww that's so cute!" Milly quickly devours the cookies like she hadn't eaten all day and then starts to climb on top of the tank to join me and the rest of the guys. Her movements are expectedly awkward due to her ample assets but she still manages to get on top without getting winded. Well, it is her machine after all.

"So I don't know if you know this" she begins, "But I have a personal tradition that I perform to help me bond with the people who I'm going to be working with. It's also how I show affection so this is my way of breaking the ice and getting used to it." She grins and looks at my with mischief in her eyes. "Starting with you sweetie." She bounces over, wraps her arms around my neck and shouts: "Pillow hug!" before pulling me into a tight hug, my face buried into her huge soft chest mounds. I feel totally flustered and I squirm a little, more from how horribly awkward this felt than anything, though Shaun was right; as a cushion, they functioned wonderfully effectively. If they weren't the boobs of a girl I kinda liked I would have a much easier time appreciating just how wonderful they felt. I'm sure most guys who are less awkward than me would be enjoying it to it's fullest.

"Hehe, enjoying the vast tracts of land there Emmett?" I hear Noah ask me.

Milly releases me, finally giving me a chance to breath and then smirks at Noah. "Why don't you find out for yourself big boy?" She pounces on him and engulfs his face with her fabric covered titflesh. "After all, there's plenty of me to go around."

Noah seemed to take it with a lot less stride than me, fidgeting furiously and yelling I don't know what into her breasts. I wonder if Milly can hear him from the vibrations in her breasts. Hm, breast sonar. I take a mental note of it in my head, it could be an innovative power to give to a character for one of my stories.

"Mmmm oh yes baby struggle, it feels good." Milly teases before waiting another moment to release him. "There, not so bad was it?" She saunters over to Shaun and grins. "You don't have a girlfriend who would have a problem with this do you?"

"Nah. I've been smothered a few times by Mags, some by accident, some on purpose." He grins back. "Hit me."

"As you wish." She goes in gently though, slowly wrapping her arms around him and then gradually engulfing his face with her massive marshmallows. "Bet you haven't been smothered like this eh?" She chuckles. "Well I don't want to create too many issues with those girls." She released him. "After all I don't know how they see you." She looks around. "So who have I missed?"

"Nobody," Blonde Sunglasses Kid says innocently.

Milly grins viciously and cracks her knuckles. "Better take off those shades Tom Cruise, cause pillow train is coming your way."

Blondie quickly pulls his shades off and closes his eyes, bracing for the fleshy impact. Milly notes that his eyes are closed and moves slowly, teasing him with the warmth of her body, so close and yet so far. Mercifully she finally pulls him into a snug hug, burying his face in her bust.

"There now don't you all feel better? You don't have to feel so awkward around me now right? Just think of me as one of the crew, just… softer than most." She winks. She releases Blondie and then walks over to the edge of the tank. "And just for the record, I'm more than just a set of huge tits, I gotta decent pair 'a hips too." She turns to show them her side and lifted up the edge of her skirt to display an unblemished thigh and hip area. If she'd pulled her skirt up any higher they'd have seen the waistband of her panties. Still, like she said, she has a nice hip area, and flared out much more than the 'ten-year-old body' might have lead one to believe. Because of how much her uniform was flared by her bust it is hard to see, even with the sweater off.

All our eyes seemed locked on Milly. It seemed just about everyone was blown away at how gaudy and shameless she came off as. Okay, maybe that was too harsh of wording, but the girl sure as hell was being playful and teasy, moreso than I expected. I mean I'd seen her around the girls, and she had been this playful, but there was an almost flirty air about her now that added to that spice she brought.

"We'll keep that in mind," Noah replies almost blankly.

She grinned. "I'm sure that won't be all you keep in mind." She hefts her breasts teasingly and then lets them fall gently before climbing down off the tank. "See you around boys. Try to stay out of trouble eh?" She walks away quite naturally, no suggestive gait, no teasingly sway of her hips, just a normal calm walk. We stay silent until she vanishes around the corner of the hangar.

"If you want her Emmett," Noah speaks up, "You can keep her."

I shake my head and sip the last of my applejuice. "I'll keep that in mind."


	9. Chapter IX

**(Eureka)**

"So we're doing what?" Flanders sits dumbstruck across from the table we were at.

"We have to make a band, the one-two-three-four of us, a band." I talk to the others in the most mundane of voices. "It's not like we have a choice, this school enforces this 'band' class."

"The only people here with music talent are you and Eclair, and Eclair's percussion playing only passed her class once." Flanders says.

"Hey, I object to that," Eclair defends herself, "I've gotten better, somewhat."

Flanders appears to have offended the purple haired girl, who starts to twirl around her drill hair. This is turning out to be a rather awkward conversation and pretty one-sided. Heck, I'm pretty sure Lux is actually asleep, with her hood and stuff.

"Well, we still have to do it," I point out to them, "It's a mandatory class, and if we're going to do it, we could at least try the best we can."

"Fine-fine-fine, I can somewhat play guitar, but if we are doing this, we should have someone that's at least good at music." Someone who was good at music huh, well, I was always good at singing, but there was still one person that could help.

"How about Rinko? The girl's never in the class anyways, gets out of it somehow, must be good enough for that."

"R-Rinko? The girl rarely ever socializes with us, she just drops into our Companies, take out a few tanks with her BS KV-85 and leaves." It's true that Rinko is pretty much a stranger to us, but she was the only person we, or at least I know, that could play Guitar better than Flanders.

"I'm going to go ask her anyways, and we're required to play a song as well at some point." _Just slap a song out there Naoki_, I tell myself, _just some song you really like and can play_. "Life is Showtime, Sho Kiryuin, search it up, study it, that's all I have planned, goodbye."

I make a rather hasty retreat, leaving the others to ponder at the three second sentence I spouted out. Things like instruments and a space to practice in, those were just minor details to work out anyways right? We probably had time for them anyways, right now the obvious priority at the moment was getting someone who could play the guitar. Rinko...Rinko...Rinko...which room were you in anyways, this one? Yeah, this one, Room Whatitsface, a quick knock should do it.

"What~!"

"Rinko! It's me! Eureka!"

"Who~?"

"That girl you always annoy on Tanks!"

"Oh~! You." Rinko quickly shuffles to the door and opens it for me. It seems she's wearing a pair of fox ears for whatever reason. "What is it?" She looked rather overly energetic, hey, it's international waters, whatever floats her boat.

"Rinko, can you um...we're forming a band and-"

"Sure."

"Um...what?"

"You want me in your group for Band Class, I mean, Flander's playing is terrible anyways, I've listened to her presentations."

"You sure about this?"

"Yeah, it's not like I have anything to do in that class, I only skip out because I don't like listening the other guitar 'players'."

"So you'll join?"

"I just said yes, at least three times, what song are you going?"

"Life is Showtime, from Kamen Rider Wizard?"

"I'll take a look at it later, just call me whenever you need to."

"O-okay…"

"Well bye~!" She shuts the door and leaves me, now the ponderer, she's stranger than Eclair, but I can't argue with results. Now we have a good guitar player, not that this matters, hopefully it's just one song. And we can all go back to our lonely existences, maybe, I don't know.

A fine end to a fine problem, at least I could relax for the rest of the day- Oh wait, I have gym...and I'm being forced to play basketball. Well, nevermind, it's going to be a terrible day instead.

**|Maggie|**

"What?"

"_Weird metal things with writing on them all over the bloody tank._"

I sigh into the phone. "You sure you didn't drink anything before going to bed last night?"

"_Funny. I'm being serious._" I can hear Shaun's eyes rolling. "_Just… Get the girls here and I'll show you_."

"Alright, alright. We'll be there in a minute."

"What was that about?" Sam asks from her book as I pocket my phone. We lasses woke up a little while ago and I had just gotten dressed when Shaun called me.

"Apparently someone TP'd our tank with metal objects that have writing on them." I shrug.

"You sure he isn't delusional?" Falkner scoffs. "Tank fumes and all."

Tosh punches the other girl's arm. "Shaddup. Besides, didn't you once swear you saw Charlie Chaplin dancing with Rowdy Roddy Piper in the middle of the street after a few pints?"

"When is ten a few?"

"Both of you, cool your tits," I raise my voice, "Let's just go see what the hell he is talking about and then we can see if we need him institutionalised."

I don't think we could have expected anything other than what was there: our Turan completely covered with the little metal thingies that Shaun was talking about. One on our barrel which looked like a fire hydrant cap, painted silver with some strange sorts of runes or letters carved around it, and another one that looked like an oxygen tank with two gears welded to each end and a spiral pattern carved into it. There were at least a dozen others on various parts of our vehicle, and they all seemed to be made out of machinery pieces. "What the…"

"I told you." He said as he climbed out of the commander's cupola. "They're inside too. What the hell happened?"

"What's all the noise early in the morning?" Milly walks into the hangar and looks at us gathered around the Turan. "You lose something?"

"You have any idea what in earth this shite is?" Falkner asks her in the politest way that she can; not at all. "I mean who the fak would put this on a tank!?" Milly look past the people and study the Turan, which now more resembled a shoe tree in the Nevada desert.

"Oh… Yeah well, this isn't exactly a practical joke if it makes you feel any better. They're good luck charms… Sorta."

"Good luck charms?" Shaun asks walking over with his hands in his pockets.

Milly sighs. "Well I'm not the best person to explain. Should I go retrieve the 'culprit'?"

"That might be best. One second." I say, nodding to Tosh. Before Falkner can do anything, Tosh grabs her and holds her, obviously swearing her head off. "I don't trust her not to try and deck the culprit."

Milly sighs. "Well no harm was meant, in fact it was the opposite. Wait here and I'll go get her. I think she's on her way anyway." Milly walks briskly out of the hangar and disappears around the corner. She comes back almost dragging a towering skyscraper of a girl along behind her, who looks like she's on the verge of crying.

"But Milly, why can't you tell them!" She wails, "I was only trying to protect their little baby Turan!"

"Because they won't understand it coming from me any more than you. Besides, you have to take responsibility for your actions."

"What do you mean by 'protect'?" Shaun asks.

Dakota, the braided girl, is pushed in front of us, and she grabs her braids and uses them to cover her face. One covers her nose with her eyes poking out above and her mouth poking out below, and the other covers the top of her head.

"I-I-I made these… They're… They're…." Her voice is quivering like she might burst into tears at any moment, "They're anti-gremlin charms okies? I hand made enough to keep all the tanks safe. Yours needed more than the others cause…." She sniffs, "Cause the Turans had a wee little bit of mechanical problems. Gremlins love picking off the weak."

So the thingies are to ward away some supernatural bupkis? Eh, well I guess it could be worse. I mean I remember back at the academy where we took some panties and-

"Really? Thank you!" I hear Shaun saying before going over and hugging her. "I hate those little buggers! They get into everything and break shite."

Ah… Right… Forgot he's a mechanic and he actually believes that bit of supernatural bupkis. Dakota worms around in his grip, and I swear I see her braids raising up like a cats tail when it sees something it don't like.

"Ah! Milly, he's hugging me! What do I doooooooo?" She says frantically.

Milly giggled. "Try hugging back."

Dakota takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and wraps her arms around Shaun, hugging him back tightly. "Y-You're welcome Shaun," She says at almost a whisper.

"Aww." I can't see his face but I'm sure he's smiling as he keeps the hug going for a little longer before letting her go. "Mind if we keep them to put on the tank at night?"

Dakota's face lights up with energy and she begins to whip her braids back and forth in her hands, the long hair swinging back and forth rapidly as she bounces up and down.

"Oh yes! That would be wonderful! I'm so glad I could help you!"

"Let me know if there's any other suggestions that come to mind." He smiles at her. "I'd be happy to get more things to keep the gremlins away."

"I will, I will," Dakota says, bouncing off towards her tank, "Have a nice day! May RNGesus be with you!"

**[Yuki]**

"Oranges be with you?" I repeat after the crazy braided girl, trying to make some sense of what she just said. I had just been witness to a spectacle that would surely make anyones head spin in confusion. First we come into the hangar and witness all our tanks draped in oddities, then we're only further baffled by their braided creators explanation of them.

"Well she's not Japanese afterall," Yunko points out, "Must be a foreign thing."

"Or maybe she's just… Odd." Hikari suggests. "Not a bad girl just… Odd."

"Odd sounds right for sure," I agree, "What is a gremlin anyways?"

"Just a name for all the things on a machine that usually goes wrong I think," Yunko shrugs. "I've heard it used before but not a lot. It's more of a western phrase I guess."

"So it seems," I nod, "How about we get to our tank before they start talking about mermaids or voodoo?"

"I think that is voodoo," Hikari smirks, "But yeah, let's do it. I wouldn't call 'The Little Mermaid' my favorite movie either."

Yunko smirks as well. "Well look at it this way: our team just got more interesting."

I sigh and shake my head as I begin to look our BT-7 over, "Interesting is one word for it."

**{Felicita}**

I take a deep breath and adjust my tie as I discern Yuki's position at the food stand, preparing myself internally for my mission. The objective was simple, really. Inform Yuki I had no interest in pursuing a romantic relationship, but I would wholly accept continuing to instruct her on the various skills she wanted and needed to learn from me. It's very basic. One sentence should be all it will take. I take one last deep breath and approach her table. Oddly enough, she is not with her companions.

"Good afternoon Yuki," I greet her as I sit down across from her. Yuki produces a pleasant smile and responds back quickly.

"Good afternoon Felicita."

Felicita. I am reminded that among those I know, only my roommates and Yuki refer to me by a first name basis.

"Yuki, I suspect you may have… Affectionate feelings for me," I begin. Okay, a bit indecisive of a start, but I could still wrap this up swiftly. Yuki's cheeks turn a bit pink.

"Y-yes Felicita. You have been an excellent mentor to me. It's only natural that I feel affection towards you… In a professional way." She adds with a small smile.

"Right. I just wanted to tell you that I don't…" My voice suddenly hitches in my throat and I feel my chest tense up. Yuki looks at me oddly.

"Felicita? Are you alright?" She asks.

I nod slowly. The odd feeling were back. For some reason I didn't want to say I didn't want her. I struggle to think what it could be. Yuki notices that I appear to be struggling and moves her chair into my vicinity, looking at me concerned.

"Felicita what is it? Is something wrong? If you are having troubles just tell me, you can trust me. We all sometimes get those things bottled up inside us we need to get out."

"I… I need to tell you," I tense up and suddenly I feel something contact my hand. I look down and Yuki is holding my hand and looking at me in the eyes. My heart beats a little faster and I suddenly feel those warm and soft feelings returning. I want to say 'I'm not interested', but all that comes out is silence.

"If you don't want to say it here I understand," Yuki tells me, her small fingers squeezing my diminutive hand gently, "Perhaps you wish to discuss it at your place, or by your office?"

I bite my lip softly. Curse you Yuki! Curse you for your sensitive kindness! Curse you for being so good to me! I didn't ask for this! I just wanted to help and now here I was, brought to a state of near helplessness by someone who seemed to care about me so genuinely, I didn't know what to do! But I had to tell her something…

"Yuki… What I was meaning to say was that… That I really appreciate you too, both in your willingness to learn from me and your adeptness at doing so. I'm truly proud of you and wish to affirm that our relation remains strong."

Yuki tilts her head at me almost quizzically before reverting to a smile that makes it feel as if small insects are fluttering about my ribcage. "That's great Felicita! I never doubted it in the first place."

I stand up and she releases my hand, and for a moment, it seems as though I miss the warmth of her hand. Stupid Yuki and her stupid hand!

"I must go attend to business elsewhere. I hope you have a pleasant day." I turn around and depart, leaving Yuki to whatever else she may be doing. As I walk away I feel my hands tighten up into fists and my blood begin to boil. How had Yuki foiled me so handily? How had I been so weak?

No, that wasn't right. I told myself once again, this was my fault, not Yuki's. It's my responsibility to keep my feelings under control, no matter how she toyed with them. Though the anger in my veins disagreed, I tell myself that I'll be the mature one, that I won't succumb to such petty anger. I was better than that.

**[Yuki]**

I watch Felicita leave, wondering why she had gone out of her way to tell me such a thing. Was she trying to tell me she liked me back but didn't know how to say it? The thought gives my stomach butterflies ever so briefly, and I whimsically hope that she too felt something. As I return to eating my snacks, I briefly wonder how I might go about confessing to her. Should I include that I was a guy? Maybe it would be better to settle into a relationship comfortably and then reveal it to her. But then again, maybe not. I had heard that relationships based on lies tended to be unhealthy. The sooner she knew, the better of a chance we would stand.

"You two seem awfully friendly."

Startled I whirl around in my seat, nearly falling out of it and I have to quickly stabilize myself to prevent an embarrassing fall. I look at the source of the voice and see Hikari and Yunko standing near the food stand. HIkari has her arms crossed and Yunko has a bag of chips in her hand.

"Oh uh… Hi guys. What brings you here?" I try to pad the conversation with small talk.

"Came to get something to eat," Yunko says munching on her chips.

"And to check on you," Hikari adds, "You've been acting weird lately and judging from that conversation, it seems like it has to do with Felicita."

I take a deep breathe. Felicita had not gone through all she had done to help me for nothing. I was going to handle this affirmatively.

"Actually I've never felt better. Felicita has been showing me ways to help take a stronger stand in life, and she was just stopping by for a friendly chat."

"Oh yes, very friendly" Yunko grins.

Hikari rolls her eyes at my comment. "Come on Yuki. Seeing her you could tell it was more significant than that. She was acting as weird as you."

I cross my arms a little, "Well maybe she has issues in her life. Being the president doesn't mean her life is perfect."

"Clearly," Hikari sighs, "C'mon, something is clearly going on between you two."

I roll my eyes a huff, "Yeah, I wish." I realize what I've said and cover my mouth but it's already too late.

"Aha, you slipped!" Yunko points her chip at me accusingly. "You two are in L-O-V-E."

I feel my face heating up, "N-No we're not! There's no way. Felicita is too busy for it…" I lower my voice to a whisper, "A-And she's said she doesn't want a boyfriend!"

"There's a big difference between what someone says and what they really want, even if they aren't aware of it," Hikari tells me.

"Yeah she's just being all tsundere or whatever" Yunko tells me, "You have a chance Yuki, don't give up."

I blink a few times, "W-Wait, you're saying you'd support me? I mean…" I sigh and take a deep breath, lowering my voice so only they can hear me, "Okay look, I do have a crush on Felicita okay. I'm just not sure what to do about it, or if she feels anything in return." They look at me dumbly.

"She's totally into you!" They shout.

Hikari steps forward. "Trust me Yuki, if she wasn't into you she wouldn't be so shaken."

"Although…" Yunko taps her chin and then leans close to whisper. "Doesn't the fact that she's into Yuki mean that she's a lesbian?" Hikari's eyes widen and she looks at me.

"You didn't... Get caught did you?"

I shake my head. "N-No… But if I am going to be with her I'll have to tell her. That's one of the reasons I'm not sure how to confess. Most confessions don't involve revealing you have different genitals than expected."

Hikari sighs and scratches her head. "Well… Maybe you should leave it then. This seems like it could open a big can of worms."

"Aw, he can't shy away from love," Yunko protests. "He should embrace it and go after her. Maybe he can ask her out on a date and find out if she likes him as him or her. Know what I mean?"

"And what if she finds out the truth?" Hikari asks. "He could be thrown out of school if that happens!"

I bite my lip, "Well I mean, if she likes me back then she probably won't tell right? So then it's just a matter of if she likes me…" I sigh, "Just my luck. The one time I get a girl to like me, and it's while I'm trying to be one."

"Not to mention she might not end up liking you if she finds out you're a guy," Yunko points out. "I'm not sure what you should do."

Hikari shrugs. "In the end it's up to you Yuki what you do. Just be careful okay?"

I take a deep breath and nod. "I will." While I was still unsure of what choice lay ahead of me, at least one thing was clear. Nothing good would come of not choosing, and it's getting close to choice time.

* * *

><p><strong>{Ele}<strong>

So it's been a while since we've been at sea, and I've been having harder time than I thought I would getting my sea legs. I mean you'd think like, how much different can it be, being on a docked ship versus being on a moving, sailing ship. Well there is a huge fucking difference let me be the first to tell you. I've hurled over the side twice now, Illaria beat me with three times though. Guess we really are a bunch of filthy landlubbers. Or… Maybe it would be docklubbers? Hehe, I bet I can lub me a big dock.

So to cure my seasickness, I did the only thing that seemed natural. Go to the gym of course. So now I'm at the gym and now you know why. I'm doing what I do best, lifting. I've got big hefty 25 kilo weights on both ends, and I've got over thirty lifts. My awesomely buff body has just enough sweat on it to feel good, without it being so thick I feel like a dog after the rain.

After I make it to forty five reps I decide to set up the barbell and take a towel and drink break. As I do so I notice two of the Irish girls come in. Or were they Norwegian? Well whatever, the European girls have showed up. One's the short brown haired girl who has an attitude, and the other is blonde girl with an even bigger attitude.

"Yoooo!" I wave at them as they come in. Brunette seems to be setting up over by the punching bags. Probably gonna punch it. She looks over and gives a slight wave as she takes some tape and wraps it around her hands. The blonde sits down on a seat by her and looks too.

"Ey. You're that lass who's been flirting with Shaun, aren't ya?"

I put my hand on my hip as a take a swig from my water bottle, "Yeah that's me. Hope you don't mind or anything. Not that I'll stop if you do, but I would like my wooing of him to go over as smooth as possible."

"Is that what you call it?" The short brunette calls over from assaulting the punching bag. "Still, I gotta hand it to ya. At least you seem to be somewhat genuinely interested, or am I just making that up?"

I put a hand over my chest. Said hand has a water bottle in it and I get a bit on my left boob. Damnit. Too bad Shaun wasn't around for a peek.

"I am as fucking genuine as it gets motherfucker!" I reply, "I play for keeps!"

"Really now?" She stops punching the bag to wipe some sweat from her brow. "What makes you attracted to him then other than him having a dick?"

"He's so mysterious," I tell her, "He's not only nice, but he seems to take my advances so cool like. He doesn't blush, look at his feet when I talk to him, he doesn't stutter when talking to me. He seems so natural. It's strangely sexy! But I'm afraid if I'm not making him act weird that he doesn't feel anything around me. Is there something I'm missing? Do your people do mating dances?"

"We do Highland dancing but he's never been one for them. He's just used to girls teasing him from being with us five for what is it now Falkner? Two years?"

"Aye, two years, Tosh," The blonde sighs. "It could be he thinks of you wanting to be his friend from all the teasing we do to him. Maybe do something that tells him you like him more than just a friend and want to be more than."

The first thing that comes to mind obviously is 'accidentally' giving little Shaun a rub at the movies, and then see how tall it rises to test how much he likes me, but I decide to hear them out.

"Hmm…" Tosh taps her chin. "How do you feel about getting him in a position to see more of you? Like here at the gym or teasing him with something low cut and testing his reaction? He might be used to seeing our tits but he might react differently. Be more assertive I guess."

"Show some more skin? Sure I can do that. I love it when I can dress to give him a tent so big, they'll call it a gazebo!" I grin, then whisper to them, "Hey uh, speaking of, how does… Little Shaun stack up? He got enough firepower in his jeans?"

"Eh? Oh, you mean his cock. Plenty down there, lass," Tosh winks at me. "Oh, and see if you can't get him to go back to your place to hang out. Then you can do things like drop something and bend over in front of him."

I lick my lips and rub my hands together, "Oh yeah, now my mind is so fucking dirty. I'm gonna be giving Shaun the royal treatment next time I see him."

All these dirty, raunchy thoughts in my head really have me fired up. My gym shorts are soon going to be having a stain not related to sweat. I sit back down at my bench and get ready to begin lifting again. Being horny also makes me want to be physically active. Well I guess it makes sense. My body wants to be hot, sweaty and doing hard work. With a lack of good dick to do that work upon, I resort to the next best thing. Pumping some nice heavy weights.

* * *

><p><strong>Emmett\**

I remember to take deep breaths as we go through the various stretches at the beginning of class. Gym class, to be specific. Funny enough, I happen to have gym with three of the girls on the tankery team. One of which is Matilda. In fact that's how I met her. Before we joined tankery, we had gym together. Now I have to keep my natural staring tendencies in check since she was the one in front of me. I have never been very good at looking at girls without staring. I'm not trying to be creepy, I mean nothing by it, I just have a hard time keeping my eyes off a pretty girl.

On top of it, today is the day I'm finally going to talk to her. I've decided I need to act on my crush, since I wasn't the only boy in the class, not to mention she surely knew others in her other classes as well. I was never very good with girls, but I had to at least put my best foot forward. Dating her was a maybe if I asked, but a definite no if I did nothing.

We finish our warm ups and our teacher declares that today we're playing basketball. The tomboys and the jocks are the ones who rush to get the balls out, and set the teams up. I decide now is the best time to talk to her, and I approach the carrot haired girl tentatively.

"Hey Matilda," I greet her softly. The girl squeaked and slowly turned her head to look at me.

"Um… Um, wha-what is it?"

I find myself looking into her large, ocean blue eyes and it takes me a moment to speak, "Oh uh nothing I just wanted to uh… Talk, you know?"

Matilda grabs a basketball and hid her her face behind it so that only her eyes are peeking out to look up at me. "A-About what? What did I do?"

I felt my heart wanting to explode at seeing her like this. Things like this were what made her alluringly sweet and cute. "Nothing, I just wanted to chat. You know. When two people want to know each other they talk… And I… I want to know you."

Matilda hides her eyes shyly. "Um…. Know me? I don't…. I don't know what to talk about. I'm not very interesting. I don't know what's popular."

"Hehe, ditto," I reply, "I'm lost for what's cool and relevant. I was more interested in the fact you seem… Uh… Nice." Matilda peeked out from behind the basketball now less afraid and more curious.

"Nice? Me? Wha-What do you mean?"

I take a deep gulp before speaking, "Well I just… Ya know… Have been paying attention to you, and you seem to be a sweet girl. I was curious to learn more about you." Matilda tilted her head.

"You were watching me? Um… What do you want to know?" Suddenly the coach calls Matilda to take her shot at the basket. Matilda excuses herself from my presence and stood in front of the basket, dribbling the ball a few times before lining up a shot and sending the ball arcing up to send the ball through the basket with a swish. At the risk of seeming patronizing I give her a few claps and a cheer as she comes back over.

"Nice shooting. You play this before?"

"Y-Yeah, I played a little in elementary school and I've played on and off since then. I am from the country Basketball was born from, sort of. Anyway, it's inevitable that we end up playing a lot of it growing up."

"You're from Canada too?" I ask her, "No way, what are the odds? Where ya from?"

"Huh? Uh…. N-Nova Scotia. Parrsboro Nova Scotia."

"Ah." I nod, "I'm from Drumheller. Also known as middle of nowhere Alberta." For some reason, having no national barriers to break seems to give my confidence the little push it needs to ask another question. "So Matilda, you have anything you like to do?"

"Um… Well I like to swim, and sometimes listen to music."

"Swimming huh? Must be pretty easy growing up with so much ocean around you." I say, suddenly the coach calls for us to get into pairs and begin practicing passes. Naturally I look to Tilly, who already had a basketball and was already with me.

"So how about those passes?"

Matilda freezes up a bit and looks up at me anxiously behind her basketball. "Um… Okay." She takes a deep breath and backs away a few meters before tossing me the ball. As I caught it I looked back at Matilda and saw her shrunken up a bit, looking vulnerable without her ball to hide behind. Finding the sight to be nearly unbearable I hurriedly pass it back to her, returning her small leather sphere of protection. Almost in a panic Matilda catches it and fearfully shoved it away from her, sending the ball flying at my face. Before I can do anything I feel the hard leather hit my face with a serious wallop and send me to the ground. For a second my head is swimming and when I regain my sense I hear Matilda's soft voice in my ears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she says frantically, "I didn't mean it, honest!"

I stumble to my feet and shake my head, "No, no, it's fine. Just barely grazed me." I say. Well at least I felt fine. As far as I could tell nothing was broken on me.

"Ah! You're bleeding!"

I see a drop of blood fall to the floor below me and I realize that in fact there is blood trickling from my nose. Matilda rushes over and pulls a paper towel from her shorts pocket, and hands it to me. "Use this to stop the bleeding!"

I take a piece of the paper towel and put it into my nose. The dripping blood ceases for now, and I smile at Matilda. "Thanks for the help. I think it's under control."

"You should go to the infirmary." Matilda insisted. "Um… It… It was my fault so I can take you." She shaking slightly with nervousness, she seems… Scared of me somehow. I try my best not to be intimidating, though I'm not sure I ever was to begin with.

"U-Uh thanks. I accept your offer." Matilda helped me up and then led me towards the infirmary. She didn't really touch or look at me after that, she just walked beside me, not saying anything. Well it could be worse, after all, I got a heart wrenchingly adorable ticket out of gym.

* * *

><p><strong>(Eureka)<strong>

Intense concentration and fine footwork, that's all it takes to make shots in basketball according to my morals. I'd believe my own morals more if they were actually correct in their assumptions! Today, I couldn't make a shot, not one, I'm cursed forever to be a rim bouncer.

I've never been good with Basketball. If you can make it Football, where all I have to do is run and kick, then my life is good. But course I have to be forced to play this sport, not even that much of a sporty person.

With another one of my shots just bouncing rim, I untie my shoes and pretend they fell away, just to sit over by the wall. I look up to witness the huge braids girl from the tankery team- Dakota, I think was her name- make a running leap at the basket and perform a rather handy slam dunk. After a few seconds though I begin to notice she's still up there. Still clinging to the rim.

Don't tell me she's scared of coming down, I let out a slight chuckle and waited for someone to bring her down. When I realized all they were doing was staring at her awkwardly, I seriously felt like the only smart person here. Tugging on the collar of my shirt, I got away from the wall and put my arms akimbo, trying to blend in.

Looking around, I confirmed my thoughts, all of these people were apparently too starstruck to actually do anything of effect. "Come on then, no one's gonna get her down?" My voice must have flown over their heads, like always. "Right then."

Taking matters into my own hands, I walked right parallel to where the poor girl was hanging from. Slapping my hands together and squatting a few times, I prepared myself to pull her down. So I did, I was always abnormally tall, compared to my parents at least, and I just do a simple jump up to grab her down.

I managed to grab onto her by her thighs but surprisingly she manages to stay stuck to the rim despite my yanking and pulling.

"Aaaaaah! I don't want to come down!" Dakota cries.

"You can't! Stay! Up here! Forever!" Between the effort required to hang onto her thighs and gravity, it wasn't going to be a pleasure hop.

"Gah! I don't care! Tell Newton he can go shove his apple up his… Mouth!" Dakota squirms fiercely, and suddenly her grip slips, and we plummet to the floor, the tower of a schoolgirl landing on me rather painfully.

No sound came out as the very air is knocked out of my lungs. "Yep. I'm dead." And I relax every muscle in body to just lay there still. This is worse than that time I was nearly flattened by a Chi-Nu, but at least it's better than landing on top of my… Vital areas. Eventually Dakota rolls off me and I was once again able to induct air and not feel crushed.

Slowly I raise my thumbs up and close my eyes from the pain. "At this rate… We should watch… Dynaman… Together…" I dunno why I said that, I always brought up Tokusatsu when I had nothing to say. Come on, gimme a break, the girl's the equivalent of a T-28 landing on you.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note: If you are reading this, congratulations. You've read through enough words to constitute an entire fanfic, or several fanfics. You either love a long and deeply involved story or somebody in this story is your waifu. Either way, I am grateful for every view and favorite I get, it makes all the love I pour into this worth it. I would like to inform my 30~ or so regular viewers (according to my OCD statistics tracking) that starting from chapter 10 onwards the rating will be moved up to M. So either slap that favorite button or be sure to adjust your filters to show M rated stories so you don't miss out on our future progress to this story! We have a long ways to go and I'd hate to lose my readerbase so early.<strong>

**So fasten your seatbelts, the real ride begins shortly.**


	10. Chapter X

**{Miyuki}**

I held a folder of papers close to my chest as I walked towards the Student Council office, Yoko keeping step beside me. This was a routine meeting to discuss the current state of the school and now that the ship was underway there was much to discuss, especially for the two representatives of the Naval Studies division. Atsuko was with us as well, since she kept track of all things financial, she'd have a few things to say about the expenditures of the Naval Studies.

I opened the door to the office and stepped inside. I saw Felicita sitting at the head of the conference table and opened my mouth to speak but stopped when I got a better look at her. Her eyes seem bloodshot, and her hair, usually so neatly trimmed a single strand out of line would stand out, was frayed severely. Looking over her I also see that her clothes seem to be suffering from a similar state as the girl. Her tie is crooked and her shirt has a few noticeable wrinkles.

Yoko, Atsuko and I look at each other for a moment, exchanging looks that were a mix between confusion and concern. We slowly turn our heads and look back at Felicita.

"Madame President?" I ask cautiously.

"What?!" She snaps at us, before cringing visibly and taking a deep breath, "I mean, please do go ahead Miyuki."

I blinked a bit and recomposed myself. Felicita was clearly stressed from all that had happened with the ship coming online. "Uh, well we're here for the regular meeting."

Felicita takes some more deep breathes, like she's trying to get into the mindset, or calm herself. Calm herself from what?

"Yes, then let us begin. I would like to hear what you all have to report on…" She bites her lip, seeming to get hung up on her choice of words. "How everything has been going."

That was alarmingly generic word choice coming from Felicita. I knew that something was up but I wasn't sure if I should press or not; or even how I would do it. I resisted the urge to look back at Yoko and sat down to begin relaying my report.

"The ship is functioning well; however we are getting reports of personnel shortages with having to maintain all the ship's running parts now. The Naval Studies department should be able to maintain things for a while but they'll be pulling long hours until we can get the first years up to speed." I looked at Yoko to signal her to begin her report.

"Well, we have gotten complaints about the extra noise, and the electric grid seems to be fluctuating in some areas of the ship. We're trying to lock down the problem but the system's so old we're having difficulty troubleshooting the problem."

Felicita's hands curl into fists and she answers tersely, "So that's how it is? Well I hope you can keep it under control. It would totally throw us into chaos if the wrong department lost power. I don't need any more issues to be hung up on at the moment."

I cleared my throat and felt that now was the most appropriate time to ask. "Madame President, is there an issue that's particularly troubling to you? You seem… Off today. Not your usual self."

Felicita glares at me sharply, before shaking the razors glance from her face, "Ah, I'm fine!" She insists, "Leading the tankery team has it's pressures, and points about it which cause stress, especially since not all of the teams are as cooperative as I would like. But it is definitely not anything out of the ordinary. Just more than I am used to of my usual work."

I frowned. "I've always been a bit opposed to you leading the tankery team. While I agree there's noone more qualified on this ship it just seems to be adding pressure and stress to your already considerable pile."

"Miyuki, is this an intervention or a meeting?" She growls at me.

"This meeting is about the status of the ship and the students on board." I snapped. "You are a student as well and in your current state I have doubts about you being able to conduct yourself according to your position!"

Felicita takes a deep breath and sits up, brushing herself off and adjusting her tie. "I suppose you're correct in that regard. I will do my best to… To hold my behavior together so we may have a… A good meeting. If I can't maintain that, then you can do your… Intervention." As I look closer, I can see her hand is trembling slightly.

"You know, it might be easier to just get whatever's bothering you off your chest." Yoko tells her. "It would probably make you feel better and we're the kind of girls you know wouldn't make fun of you or anything. At least not like bullies. Friends do have to tease each other after all." She has her big cheesy grin on. It irks me a little but regardless I feel she's right in this instance.

"I…." Felicita shakes her head, "I am not sure if I'm ready to say. Here…. How about you come stop by my dorm to speak with me after this meeting is over? I do not feel… The office is a place for emotion."

I nod, as does Yoko. "Alright then, let's see what else we have… Atsuko, you have anything to add?" Atsuko had been very quiet so far, perhaps she'd been afraid to say anything to Felicita but then again she might not have had anything to say either. Atsuko produced a small file from her bag and slid it to Felicita.

"I've laid out the budget plans for ship repair and refueling, taking into account Euro to Yen exchange rates and the prices or steel and oil in the countries we will possibly be docking in."

Felicita takes the file and skims through it, a small smile growing on her face, "Well, that's some definite good news. These must be very optimistic numbers you have projected Atsuko."

Atsuko grins confidently and sits up in her chair, "Actually, I estimated it based on the middle to high end prices for the commodities we'd need."

Felicita closes the files and leans back in her chair, "Well thank god for you then, at least I won't have to worry about running out of funds."

Felicita's phone buzzes and she looks a bit startled, pulling it out of her pocket. It seemed odd at first, but on second thought, she had drawn the meeting out longer than usual and thus anyone contacting her wouldn't know she was in one.

"Right," She slips her phone back into her pocket, "Would you girls mind giving me an hour or so before we meet in my dorm? It's come to my attention I have something to attend to after this."

"Uh, of course not. There's no issue. Text us when you're done and we'll come."

Felicita stands up, now with a single tear in her eye, "Alright, if nobody has anything else to say… I'll be off then." She sniffles softly and heads out the door, closing it with little conviction.

When she left we all looked at each other. "Something is clearly wrong with her," I said. "You think she's having family trouble?"

"Her time of the month?" Yoko offered.

Atsuko tapped her chin, "If that's the case why hasn't she been having episodes like this every month? You don't think she only had her first just now do you?"

"It's possible," I shrugged. "After all, everyone's different."

Yoko gasped. "You don't suppose she got a love letter do you?" I slowly turned and stared at her.

"A guy interested in Felicita?"

"Well… It doesn't have to be a guy you know..." Yoko's voice trailed off.

Atsuko put a finger over her lip, "Maybe it's not that at all? I'm sure Felicita could handle someone being affectionate. Maybe she's been getting threats?"

I sigh. "Well that might be the case, but she's usually more constructive about such things, usually asking us how we can change our policies to try and make everyone happy or at least see if there's something wrong with whatever pissed them off." I chided myself for my crude language. I generally talk much better than that.

"But if this is more personal than Felicita is definitely the kind of person who would keep it to herself." Yoko points out.

"Well I'm sure everything will become clear tonight. We'll get her to clear everything up and we'll get her back in shape," Atsuko says confidently.

I pick up my folder and start putting the papers back in it. "I hope so, because for her of all people to end up this way, this sort of things must be pretty severe."

**[Yuki]**

I take a deep breath as the chilly sea breeze whips across my face, the hangar creaking and groaning even from the light wind. Come to think of it, it creaked and groaned even when the ship was totally dockbound and there was no movement. Guess they were just that old. We were in the Bering Sea, having just passed the Bering strait between North America and Russia. What this meant for us, was things were getting really cold really fast. It seemed I was one of the few students who wasn't enjoying it though, as I'd heard of and seen students now running into the frigid night air after their saunas. I am told it's a Swedish thing, and it's best done with snow. Well I guess it was good they were holding up tradition.

I normally wouldn't be out here, especially not this late. The sun was getting low in the horizon and soon it's warmth would be gone, and the ocean breeze would quickly set about chilling me to the bone. At least the school uniform was fairly insulative. Funny enough, one of the girls on the tankery team had complimented how I looked with my dark grey leggings earlier. Said they brought out my well curved, girlish legs. Maybe the more time I spent as a girl, the more my figure was adapting to the role.

So how did I end up out here? Well after my little talk about Felicita with Hikari and Yunko, I decided that that longer I spent lying to Felicita about who I was and how I felt for her, the less of a chance we'd have. I needed to confess to her, clear things up. I had invited her out here to talk, now it was a mere matter of her arriving. And a matter of me having the courage to take such a leap.

Off in the distance I spot her approaching, and I tense up, my heart pumping a little faster. This was it. I briefly consider not going through, that maybe I should continue to make advances under my disguise as a girl. I quickly toss the thought out of my head with violent force. Screw my fears, Felicita had taught me to handle my problems swiftly and without hesitation, and this would be no exception!

"Hey Felicita," I greet her pleasantly. I look at her and immediately it's clear something has been going on with her, her eyes are reddened, which stands out painfully against her blue eyes, and her hair is frayed and messy. She even has hints of bags under those normally sexy sharp eyes and I begin to worry. Her response is even more troubling.

"Hello… Yuki," She says tersely, like she's struggling to contain something in her.

"Felicita, are you… Are you alright?" I ask concerned.

"No!" She snaps suddenly, "Why would you ever think I am alright?!"

"Felicita, what's wrong?" I ask her. Something had clearly gotten into her. I reach out to try and place a hand on her shoulder but she smacks it away forcefully, causing my hand to sting severely.

"Don't touch me! You've already messed up enough doing that!" She says venomously.

"Felicita I was just-"

"No excuses Yuki! Look what you've done!" She grabs me by the collar forcefully. This time it's not pleasant, the way she's being forceful. It's no longer affirmative and assuring, it's brutal and crushing.

"What I've don-"

"I have spent the past days a wreck, a freaking wreck, all because of you and you toying with my emotions? Is this how you treat people who help you Yuki? You toy with their feelings? Make them vulnerable, expose their heart for all to pick at huh?"

She tossed me onto the ground and my back takes the brunt of the painful impact.

"No more Yuki! I don't want anything to do with you! I hate you and I don't want anything to do with you anymore!"

**{Felicita}**

I don't know what exactly set me off into my rage at Yuki. I can't even recall what I said to her entirely either. A soon as the poisonous words began to flow from my mouth it was like a curtain had been drawn over my eyes, made of the hot blood pumping through my veins as I poured my anger and frustration over her. A lack of understanding of what I said didn't stop my from understanding, how stomach turning, undisciplined and vile what I was doing was. With the rage now out of me and slammed onto Yuki I could suddenly see clearly inside myself once again, and what I saw was appalling.

I came back into the real world, presumably after I'd finished my unloading of what was undoubtedly the worst things to come from my mouth to date. I am now witness to Yuki on the ground in front of me, eyes welled up with tears, her expression so broken and dismal it seemed to take my heart and tear it from my chest. Before I could recover, before I could tell her sorry, she got up and bolted off, running as fast as she could.

I stand there for a few seconds of eternity, contemplating what I had done. I had just crushed the person who had taught me to feel, utterly railed on them with the most asinine bile imaginable. Without a second thought I take after her. I have to close the wound while it's still fresh, to lessen the scar. I owed it to Yuki to at least end our relation on anything more positive than what I'd just put her through.

**[Yuki]**

I don't really know where I am running, I just run, run as fast as I can to get away from Felicita. I had been ready to tell her my feelings and she crushed them with an iron fist, ground them into dust before I even showed them to her. I need to get away from her, it was a mistake investing any feelings into her at all. Why Yuki? Why did you have to go and be a fool, going for a girl who'd never want you. Hikari and Yunko were wrong. She was definitely not into me, not at all!

I see an entry point for a lower deck and charge down it, tripping halfway down and sustaining a nasty fall, bruising up my arms and legs. As I stumble up I hear a voice behind me.

"Yuki! Yuki wait!"

Great, just the voice I never wanted to hear again. I didn't need any more of Felicita. I take off without a word, hearing her footsteps close behind me now. I take every access to a lower deck I can find, hoping to lose her once we reached the cavernous, maze like storage decks. I don't care if I get lost, I just want to get away from her.

I reach a deck that seems suitable and begin running down a long corridor, having to jump through several bulkheads along the way. My intent is to turn at some point and then devise a plan to shake her based on what kind of room I enter, but that all is cut short when suddenly the lights die rapidly. Before I can bring myself to a halt I feel my ankle snag on the lower half of a bulkhead and I m sent tumbling forward. My body wants to take my foot with it, but the bulkhead wants to keep my foot in place, and the resulting disagreement in forces causes my ankle to sprain with a sickening snap. I let out a high pitched, anguished cry that echoes through the dark corridor.

"Yuki?! Yuki are you okay?"

I growl between the cries of pain. "I'd be a lot more fine if you'd just leave me alone!" I settle for dragging myself into the nearest room and curling up, just crying. I hear footsteps and sure enough, she manages to find me, guided by the light of her phone.

"Yuki… I'm so sorry…" She steps closer, "And what happened with your ankle?!" She asked. For someone who just seemed content to toss me into the meatgrinder, she sure did seem upset about what's she'd led to me bringing upon myself.

She tries to touch me and I shove her away, not even wanting to speak with her. Felicita sighs and stands up, walking somewhere nearby and stopping. I can't see anything in this lighting, especially not with tears flooding my eyes. I hear her calling to me

"If you hate me now… I understand. And if I were you, I would be upset too. I just want you to know I am disgusted with my behavior and hope you can at least accept my offer to give you medical help. I already hurt you enough, I don't want to make it worse."

I try to prop myself up but a jab of pain from trying to move my ankle says otherwise, and I collapse back onto the metal deck, aching, more in my heart than anywhere else. I can barely register what she's saying. Something about being sorry.

"Look Yuki, even if you hate me, this injury will become much more severe if nothing is done about it. I'll need to relocate your ankle."

At this point I've come back to my senses enough to realize it would be needed, but now I'm not sure if I can trust Felicita on this. The times she put me through life endangering tests were all in a new light after her explosion, and I just wasn't sure about her any more. Before I can do anything though, I feel Felicita's hands on my ankle, then a sharp jolt of pain and another snap, and then the pain quickly begins to dull. Perhaps she was serious, about being sorry?

**{Felicita}**

After lending Yuki the help she needed I crawl over to the other side of the small storage closet we were in. At this point I am sure she'll leave and never want to see me again, but at least I was able to apologize, and do something to partially redeem me, even if only just barely. I wait, I wait and I wait, and I don't see her leave. She moves eventually, to test out the functionality of her ankle, and then does something I never would have predicted. She begins to come towards me, half shuffling, half hobbling, eventually collapsing right on top of me, her arms wrapping around me softly. I hear her whisper something I never thought I would ever hear from her after what I'd done.

"Thank you."

It paralyzes me. How? How could she thank me after I spat acidic and hateful words at her like that, after I had been so impassioned and cruel. Did she really take such a small gesture as genuine redemption, did she forgive me that easily? All I had done was what anyone should have given the situation, nothing more. And yet here she was, collapsed in my lap. I reach out and begin to stroke her long, midnight blue hair. Now that I thought about it, it really was beautiful.

"Yuki… I am sorry… So, so, so sorry…." I sniffle back tears, "Thank you Yuki."

And then I do something I haven't done in front of anyone, not for years. I cry. I let the tears stream down my face. I had Yuki back.

**[Yuki]**

I look up at the now emotional, weeping Felicita and manage a broken smile. She genuinely did want to help me after all. After all those lessons she taught me though, I suppose it's about due I teach her this time. Lesson one: Forgiveness does wonders. I get a good mental laugh, the idea of me teaching Felicita I close my eyes, as if sleeping. Felicita's lap is surprisingly comfortable. Now, if only I could use her as a pillow every night. Before I can shoot the idea down, I'm already being sucked into the blackness of sleep, deep, blissful sleep.

I groan as I slowly awaken, pulled from the midst of a wonderful dream about Felicita. I know know that I still love her, and that I still had a chance to tell her. I look around and realize that I'm in a bed, and it's not my dorm.

"Oh good, you're awake."

My heart jumps at the voice. It was Felicita. I straighten myself up, immediately feeling sore all over. She's sitting beside the bed I'm in right now, looking down, not able to make direct eye contact.

"Nnnngh, good to see you… Felicita." I reply, rubbing where I was sore, which meant everywhere at the moment. "Where am I?"

"You're in my dormitory." She replies, taking deep breath, "I wished to discuss some things with you."

I speak up for the first time since my hoarse little 'thank you.'

"What it it dea-err, Felicita?"

"I… I wish to clarify why I had my emotional outburst at you," She says, "You see, ever since you gave me the kiss at the restaurant, I felt different about you."

My face heats up yet again. Is it possible she shares the same feelings for me? Would she be disappointed if I reveal myself as a guy? Maybe she was just leading in to some other kind of confession, but I just have this nagging feeling in my gut that my feelings for her are mutual.

"Well you see, it was a different feeling, stronger and more emotional than any I ever felt." She continues, "And… And it scared me how intense it got sometimes. I was angry because when I was around you, it felt like I was vulnerable, soft, emotional."

My hearts pounding now. She hadn't had feelings for me did she? That wasn't what made her act so weird recently… Was it? She gets up and sits down on top of me on my stomach, looking at me in my eyes now.

"But I've realized now that denying those feelings has only caused me stress, to stoop below my normal standards in the name of emotional turmoil. I've never met a girl like you Yuki, never met anyone who could make me feel like this, this strange amazing feeling. Yuki, I want you." She says, emphasising each of those last three words, each striking my heart heavily as I register them. I immediately grab Felicita's head and pull her down into a deep, passionate kiss. I don't care that I was sore anymore, I just wanted her, wanted her so bad. I'd never felt such desire for a girl. I stay like that for a while, giving her quite the long kiss.

I wonder briefly if I am going to fast, only to be pulled into another deep kiss by Felicita, this time it's her initiating things. Neither of us is good at this kissing thing, I suspect this is Felicita's first kiss as well. We're sloppy, bad at maintaining the lock, and we slip several times, but it's all drowned out by passion.

**{Felicita}**

I pull back from the kiss, my heart pounding faster than it ever has. Just a kiss and I was sent up the walls, and I was feeling new sensations all over my body I'd never imagined. Yuki has me entrapped in a heated spell and it was pure bliss.

"Ooooh Yuki, I want to go further, love each other in the most intimate way possible," I breathe heavily. I can hardly hear my own words, my mind is flooded with the rush of emotions pouring out from years of holding them back. I trace my hand down her side, down to her skirt and slowly work it up her thigh. She does the same and I feel her hand began to rub softly on my womanly parts, sending wild, amazing feelings jolting through me. Spurred on, I reach up to return the favor, and what I feel brings me to an instant halt.

"Yuki… You're…" I pull back and stare at her… No…. _Him _bewildered. Yuki smirks up at me.

"You're the first one outside of my team to learn my secret... You were going to learn eventually, it's just that I didn't expect this to be the way you'd find out."

I blank out for a second. So….Yuki had been a guy all this time? Was that the difference from the other girls I could never seem to name that I felt whenever I was around her- er, him? Was that why she- no, he, had done things like kiss my cheek, held my hand? I stare a long while before responding.

"But Yuki… Why? Was it just for tankery?"

Yuki replies to me in a deeper voice, presumably his natural one, "Well, everyone used to call me too soft, and I guess it just got to my head. When everyone you ever knew keeps messing with you and will even go so far as to beat you up over not being able to take their insults, it really does get to you... I guess I just turned into what they thought of me, and it stuck, even now."

Words escape me, they would be shallow and patronizing anyways. My response is to give him a passionate kiss, and reach under his silk panties to fondle his small but firm manhood. The feeling was odd, after having known him as a girl for so long and having expected womanly components like my own. I feel his fingers slip inside my panties and begin to rub my nether lips directly and I gasp from the electrical, amazing feeling. If it was this good, just having them touched, then what was….

I don't have a second thought about it. I was madly in love with Yuki, fallen for him completely and utterly. Without even a second though I unzip my pants and pull them down to my knees, doing the same for Yuki's skirt, and with a swift motion I pulled both of our panties down as well, fully exposing our genitals. I look down at Yuki's erect member with fascination. It' not very big, but I was determined to make love regardless.

I lower myself onto Yuki's hardness and I feel a wave of pleasure crash down on me, sending my eyes rolling back in my head. Pure bliss, euphoria incarnate, that's what I was feeling. Suddenly a jolt of pain raked my body, and I look down to see blood trickling from my crotch. I cringe and Yuiki holds me tightly. So this is what losing your virginity felt like? We both breathe ragged, heavy breathes as our genitals remain locked. As the pain resides I try to grind Yuki's member, but after one or two times sliding his tool in and out of me, he let's out a sharp cry.

"Felicita! I-I'm cuuuu-" His cry turns indistinct and suddenly I feel him shooting warm liquid into me with his length buried into me fully. It feels amazing, and I can feel it go very deep into my warm, soppy wet insides. Just like Yuki, packing more strength than looks let on.

Yuki blushes softly and lets out a meek, "Sorry…."

"Sorry?" I lean down and kiss his lips softly, "There's nothing to be sorry about Yuki. I have never felt more alive, and it's all thanks to you."

"I guess it's mutual then," Yuki chuckles and strokes my hair. It does feel kinda nice when he did that.

"This means we're an item does it not?" I ask him, already knowing the answer, "I guess you'll have to stay a girl to everyone else though. I don't think everyone else will be perfectly understanding about a boy sneaking into a girls tank team."

"Yeah, and I'm already committed to being a being a girl," Yuki replies, rubbing my back softly, "I really shouldn't have ca-" I cut him off with a kiss.

"That's enough of that kind of talk. All I want to hear is…." I take a deep gulp, "How much you love me."

"How much?" Yuki pauses, "More than anything right now. You're my world Felicita. And I love you."

I feel my heart sing at those words, even as I feel the hormones of sex wearing off and exhaustion catching up to me. "I love you too Yuki. More than anyone, or anything…" I manage to say before I am pulled into slumber.

**[Yuki]**

As my heart settles down I feel sleep overtaking me slowly too. I make sure to get Felicita comfortable as possible on top of me before totally blacking out, I would hate for her to have anything less. I'd never imagined I'd hook up with a girl like this, and it certainly never passed my mind it would be the product of crossdressing. Well, it was what it was, and no matter how it played out, it was undeniable now. I was deeply in love with her, and even if we had to hide our love, or pass it as yuri, I wouldn't let anything stop us. As I fall into slumber I remember my idea that it would be nice, having Felicita as a pillow every night. Well, now I would.

**{Yoko}**

I and the rest of the student council arrive at the door to Felicita's dorm. She was supposed to have texted hours ago as we had agreed to but there had been no communications from the clearly troubled student council president. Miyuki as vice president takes the lead and knocks on the door, firmly but not aggressively.

"Madame President, are you in there?" She calls. There's no response and we look worried.

I'm very concerned for Felicita's well being, we all are. She's our leader and we see her as a friend, however flawed she may be. Miyuki reaches out to test the door handle and there's a faint click as it turns all the way and the door opens soundlessly. I gulp and follow her and Atsuko in anxiously, feeling like I'm entering a horror film setting.

"Hello?" I call. "Felicita?" I hope me using her first name will help grab her attention. There didn't appear to be any sign of a struggle.

"Felicita?" Atsuko calls, "I'll check the living room." She says, going into their living room to search for any signs of the president. Miyuki goes to check the kitchen but being generally savvy as I am, I decide to check the bedroom.

I walk lightly towards the door to the bedroom which is closed. I reach out anxiously and lightly turn the knob and push my shoulder against the door to open it. The lights are out, and it's darker here than in the other rooms but she was able to see a large lump in the bed, and my chest tightens.

Peering through the darkness and walking slowly closer I can see Felicita's face but it's partially obscured by….. I cover my mouth to keep myself from crying out. Felicita's wrapped up in the arms of someone else, someone who was clearly a girl with such long hair, and delicate looking features from what I can see in the dark. Nervous I slowly start to back out of the room but I suddenly hear a small gasp behind me.

"What is…?" Miyuki is beside herself and Atsuko is there as well. I hush them quietly, not wanting to wake them. I rush them out of the bedroom and then silently as I can I close the door.

"What was that?" Miyuki demands as we leave the dorm room.

"Well…" I wasn't sure what to say. "I guess we know more about what was bothering our president."

"That she was a lesbian?"

"Maybe?" I'm not sure what's going on, maybe it's not as bad as it seems but I'm honestly not sure what's going on."

"Well even if she does…" Atsuko clears her throat, "Like other girls, then we shouldn't cast judgement on her for it. She is our president, a brilliant leader who stepped in and did what nobody else could. But let's not go jumping to conclusions either."

"Th-That's right!" Miyuki insists. "We'll just wait and see what happens and accept her as she is. After all nothing will change so… We don't have any reason to complain. It's still Felicita."

I nod. "Yeah, that's right. Let's just hope that's the only issue that was causing her to… Act that way. Well it can't get any worse."

Atsuko shoots a wary glare at Miyuki, "Be careful what you say, I'll hold you to that Miyuki."

"Of course." Miyuki is incensed. "I always keep my word."

I smile and relax a bit. Finally it seems like this problem is past us. If our president could handle this, she could handle any little thing that could come along, I really believed.


	11. Chapter XI

**Thanks for 1k views!**

**Hello everyone. Just leaving this little notice up here to say that I've had a blast writing this. I would have liked a bit more fanfare, but I also realize this story is a bit slow and not for everyone. Maybe that will change. While I try to keep things updated regularly, I'm now in college and that's gonna make keeping updates regular a bit harder. Nonetheless, for those few I am grateful for following me, I'll try to keep new material coming out.**

**Best regards!**

**{Felicita}**

I feel good. It's an odd sensation but right now I feel good. Since dating Yuki, I've been feeling all sorts of things. Euphoric, angry, morose, lustful, pensive, worried, and smitten. All in more quantity than I cared to admit. But with Yuki there to tell me it was all okay, I'd worked into them. We've been dating for over a week, but in that week it seemed like an eternity as the tables had turned and he had walked me through the new feelings that came through me like a waterfall after opening my heart to him. Right now though I am doing something which does not require emotion, but I still felt good about anyways.

Beams of yellow light from jury rigged lamps cast illumination into the once dark storage room as Miyuki leads me inside to show me what it is the Naval Studies students have uncovered. We're deep inside the ship, in one of it's hundreds of storage units, a seemingly endless catacomb of identical rectangular rooms containing whatever might be needed. Miyuki explains the situation as we enter.

"Some of the girls were making room for spare parts that we wanted to have organized into their proper sections. Makes finding them much easier. While doing that they found an old tank hull mixed in with them. Since you told us to be on the lookout for such things I told them to put it aside and I tried to inform you at the earliest possible time. Unfortunately those intermittent

electrical outages delayed that a bit."

She takes me past a few containers and shines a light on a barren hull, lacking any suspension, turret or interior. Judging by the shape of the frontal transmission cover, it's some sort of American vehicle.

"It's okay Miyuki, we still have two weeks until we get to Europe," I tell her as I look over the tank, climbing up onto it, "Have we identified the model?"

"Well at first we thought it was an American M3 medium tank model but that's only correct of the suspension it seems." She points to a collection of rusty springs and wheels along with the tracks off to the side. "One of our machine shop girls pointed out that the M3 was riveted and this hull is casted. One of the girls said that it was a Kangaroo, a medium tank hull with the turret removed to act as an armoured troop carrier, but we did find a turret not long after we found this." She points to another corner of the room with her light, shining on a boxy looking turret with a short cannon. "So finally we found out that it's a RAM Mk. I variant, and the RAM I itself being a Canadian tank design based roughly on the M3 Medium tank hull; however it uses a British gun."

"A British gun huh?" I nod, heading over to the turret to inspect it, guided by my flashlight combined with the dull ambient light, "Any good news about the gun itself? Looks a little bigger than the 14TPs gun."

"It's a two pounder gun. It's longer but I believe it's roughly the same caliber. I don't think it can use the same ammunition though. From what the girls tell me the turret and the gun are one of the few things on this machine in good condition. I guess they were cannibalized from another vehicle."

I tap my chin thoughtfully, "This looks to be beyond the scope of our current mechanics group. Not without putting a heavy strain on our current tanks." I pace back and forth on top of the turret as I ponder, then a wry grin crosses my face as an idea comes to me.

"Say, what if we outsourced this tank. Offer some sort of reward for the restoration, first come first serve." I suggest, hopping down from the turret and making my way towards Miyuki.

"Well I suppose we could do that but what what kind or reward could you possibly offer someone that would motivate them to go through all that work?"

I tap my foot as I think, "Hmmm… How about they get to crew the vehicle? And they get a free engineering credit for it as well. A restoration this big deserves an engineering credit, don't you think?"

"W-Well I suppose so…" Miyuki looks at me somewhat confused or perhaps curious might be more accurate. "That's a generous reward but do you want to deal with just random people getting into the team? You are its captain after all."

I shrug, "Eh, a variety of mindsets could be healthy for our teams flexibility." That was something Yuki had taught me, Getting into only one mindset about things was a recipe for being outfoxed by a more fluid thinker. "And it's not like we'll just let anyone restore it. They have to show some engineering and automotive competence obviously."

"So not quite 'first come first serve' then," She sighs "Well I suppose I can put the word out and have it transferred to the secondary workshops so that it won't interfere with the work of your current mechanics. Anything else we need?"

"Hmmmmm," I think for a moment, "Add double credit for tankery to the rewards. I have a generous preponderance about me today."

Miyuki raises an eyebrow at me. "Madame President, I mean no disrespect in asking this but, are you alright? You somehow… Aren't your usual self today, or more accurately you haven't been for some time."

I put my hands on my hips, "Vice President Kobayashi, whatever do you mean? What do you mean I haven't been myself for a while? My condition has been nothing if not fantastic by my own metrics as of late." Of course I knew what she was talking about. Ever since I'd started dating Yuki I had felt more emotional and open. I was far from being a master of such aspects at the moment but I was learning quickly for sure.

Miyuki points her clipboard at me. "See, that's what I'm talking about. That response sounded far too coy for you and I've never heard you use the word 'fantastic'. You'd use a world like 'excellent' or 'satisfactory'; or if you were feeling extra proud you might have said 'exemplary'."

"And?" I respond, starting to fall back to a bit more matter of fact tone I was used to, "Perhaps I am adding more tools to my arsenal to conduct business with. Perhaps I feel that some of our new tankery team members are more conducive to coy behavior and vocabulary such as the word 'fantastic'?"

I can see Miyuki biting her bottom lip; she's restraining herself. She has something she wants to say but for some reason or another she is holding herself back.

"Still it's unusual for you to be influenced so easily by others, particularly the tankery team members who seem as much unlike you as possible. Did Milly's magic hugs manage to get some of their fluff into your head?"

"I assure you Milly has not infected me with anything of the sort," I reply curtly, even though I'm smiling still. Smiling felt good, even when it was totally out of place. "Miyuki, I truly appreciate your concern, I really do. It's a true boon to me that I have councilmembers like yourself. Just trust me when I say everything is in order."

Miyuki raises an eyebrow then shrugs. "Well we're glad that you are finally started to relax. Yoko and I were concerned that you were keeping everything inside and risked hypertension. We always considered ourselves to be your closes friends, and as such you should be comfortable confiding in us, at least that's what we hoped."

I nod at her, "I would trust my life in your hands, there is nothing I have to hide from you." Except my crossdressing boyfriend. But I was protecting him, and in a way, Miyuki by extension, right? I mean surely she wouldn't be immune to the fallout of a boy being found on the tankery team. Yes, this is for the best.

"Have the girls move the hull up to the main deck, see if you can't get the units lift to work."

"We'll try but it's hard enough to find enough girls to keep this thing running. We're even having the engineering students pitch in." Miyuki turned away and took out her cell to start assigning people tasks and to try and accomplish what I have asked of her. Miyuki is a miracle worker with such things, sure as anything. I feel bad for lying to her but I know what I am doing is for the best, that it's right. For Yuki, for Miyuki, for everyones sake, this is how it has to be.

* * *

><p>A few days later I'm sitting at my desk at work, back to my normal thing. Yuki's influence may have made me softer in day to day life but at the office I was the stone cold machine at the desk I'd always been. Well, admittedly I had been a bit more friendly to everyone as of late but that didn't cut into my ruthless efficiency. I hear someone knock at the door and I finish filling out the last of the blanks on the page in front front of me.<p>

"Come in," I call out. I hear the door open and look up to see who is gracing me with their presence. A girl with ash brown short hair and goggles happens to be standing with intent in her eyes, dressed in the engineering studies uniform, a thick denim overall skirt that contained one large pocket up front and many more smaller ones on all sides. Knee Pads were on her knees and her boots were steel toed, leather construction boots. For a top, she wore a thick, black jacket with protective padding around the bust.

"I've heard you required mechanical assistance," she says, putting both her hands onto my desk.

"Yes I do," I reply matter of factly, "Mind telling me who you are?"

"You can call me Naomi, I'm one of the students in engineering."

I nod, "And are you representing a group?"

"Of course, I have four other students that want to help with your restoration."

"And I assume you all are passing your engineering studies with no issues?"

"I'm sure you know I wouldn't be here if we weren't actually skilled in our field, you don't think that way. Do you?"

I shrug, "I don't think that way, but I don't know how you think so there's no accounting for that. Still you don't seem like the type to put up a front." I pull a drawer out of my desk and retrieve some papers from it, setting them in front of her.

"I will need each of your team to sign one of these," I explain, "Then the tank is all yours."

"We're getting proper credits for our service correct?"

"Line 4 Paragraph 3, Clause II covers your credentials," I tell her, "Including the doubling of those for taking tankery and the extra credit for your engineering credits."

"Good to know, we'll be having that Ram up to its first model as fast as we can," She quickly leaves it at that, taking the papers with her as she stumbles out the room. I don't wait for the door to close before getting back to work. We would see how their restoration went, but for now it was back to work as usual.

It's two days before our docking and I'm currently lying in bed at 0930 hours with a immobilizing headache. I don't know what has brought it on me. Possibly something in the air my body is not adapted to? At any rate, the pain is tremendous and the medicine I've taken has yet to set in. Suddenly my phone rings. Not expecting the shrill noise, it jams itself into my ears like sharpened needs, my brain pulsing in pain as I desperately reach around to put my hand over it to deaden the sound. It ceases after only two rings however, and I realize it was just a text.

I lay in bed like that, praying for no more noises like that. It takes longer than normal for the medicine to work and the pain doesn't totally go away, it's merely deadened enough I can now function. Grunting I sit up and slip from under the covers, checking my phone to see who messaged me. It's Naomi. They say they're done with the Ram. I set my phone to the side and slump back in my bed. I'd take care of it.

But not before taking a small nap.

I groan and rub my eyes and I awake from my nap. I look at the time. 1130 hours. It was unusual for me to sleep so long. Oh well. Something was definitely in the air. I roll out of bed and get dressed, combing my hair and cleaning up briskly before heading back towards the hangars.

When I get there, Naomi and the rest of her crew await me. Up front is one Ram tank, though they seem to have done something with it. A towing winch is on the back, along with several large toolboxes. Several unditching logs adorn each side of the tank.

Naomi snaps and points at me, "Here's your new Ram I Canadian Cruiser Tank, in prime condition as well."

"I see," I say as I observe the vehicle, "You seem to have added some uh….extras?"

"Yes, yes we have. These are additional engineering tools, Hiyori gave me the idea after we found out they created an Armored Recovery variant during the war."

"So a support vehicle?"

"Yes. The gun fitted to it at the moment is too weak to damage anything. So we figured we could act as support for the team outside of combat."

"I see," I say, stepping around the tank to inspect the various attachments, "This has potential. How skilled are you in demolition and construction?"

"What do you mean demolition?"

"Can you get rid of things as well as you can fix them?" I ask.

"I dunno, we've never had to do that, as in explosively or physically?"

"Either. I suggest you look into it, this tank looks like it has good equipment for such operations. However, for the moment," I smile at them, "Welcome to the tankery team. Your pop test begins shortly."

"Test eh?" Her eyes widen in surprise to my sentence.

"Yes, of course, you don't think I wouldn't let you on without a small test of your mettle?" I respond, pulling out my phone and dialing up Maggie. "Hello Maggie, how are you?"

**#Naomi#**

A battle of all things! I worked, okay, we worked all this time to get that Canadian tin can working. But we still can't just make it on through, and now we have to take on this 'Maggie' and her team.

"We're using the Ram for a battle!? A one on one battle!?"

"Well of course," Felicita replies, as if the answer was painted in neon colors in the sky. "The Turan is an excellent opponent for you. They have a better weapon and you have superior armor, and you both have comparable mobility. You can battle anywhere on the training grounds." She turns around and heads to an observation tower to watch us from afar, leaving us to fend for ourselves.

"Huh… I never noticed that we had observation towers…" Personally, I feel like if this is what it takes, then fine, we'll do it. There's five of us, and we managed to get a stripped tank back together within days.

"Hiyori, Misaki, Haruka, Koyomi, this is out of our usual field of work, but if we have to fight our way through, then we must do it." My crew gives no response back, not even that chatterbox Haruka. "...Just get into the tank, we'll see who these people are."

So we file one by one into the cramped quarters of the Ram. Guess we shouldn't have put all of that gear into and around it. I look at the puny gun that is our 2pdr. The thing is barely bigger than a 37mm Puteaux SA 18 gun. Hard to imagine that this is all that we have to work with.

"I'm going to see how this works…" Misaki snaps on her goggles and takes a look at the gun, her partner Haruka, self-appointed loader, takes to the ammo.

"I'll be comms… I don't think I have any of the strength required to actually operate any of this stuff." Koyomi, the lazy bum, sits in her seat, twiddling her thumbs, while Hiyori goes to the front of the tank. You know, to drive it. This leaves me as the sole person to be the commander. Great.

Doing repair work, then putting myself at the chance to get my head taken off.

Well, at least it's better than trying to repair a Panther. "I suppose we're ready, where are we suppose to go again?" Hiyori looks back at me and the others. I don't think she ever really told us where to go in the first place. I've always heard about this 'tanking ground' they go to, but aside from that, no info.

"Well, I suppose we could always go to that place their members talk about, I assume that's where they should be." We somewhat knew where that was, so let's try to get there. Hiyori brought the tank up to speed. We had a bit of a learning edge compared to the others. Tanks were what we studied back in Engineering, so we knew a pretty good portion of the inner workings.

We did manage to get there, one way or another. I'm surprised the tank is one piece at all, as this was our first time actually crewing one in the first place. We looked around the place for our supposed opponent, nothing but grass, trees and grass. "Where are they anyways?"

**|Maggie|**

"Where are those newbies?" Tosh asks in a hushed growl. "I'm really looking forward to being able to shoot a target, no matter how handicapped they are."

I can't help but chuckle a little at her over-excitement, granted all of us are in the same boat. This is our first actual one versus one against someone, and it just had to be against a group of puppies that we will be able to kick around like nobody's business. Us five had come up with a plan as soon as we heard about it, and right now things were starting to fall into place. Falkner's driving took us to about five hundred meters from the area we thought they were going to come from, the main entrance to the tanking grounds, and we found a nice area where our tank was more or less in cover. If they had any experience at all and were cautious and had their eyes open, they would be able to spot us as it was a fairly obvious spot, but we were counting on them dealing with whatever teething troubles their tank had.

"Contact! One o'clock!" Tosh alerts us. I immediately pop the hatch open and grab my binoculars, standing up out of the hatch. Along the way my breasts are squeezed tightly against my chest thanks to the hatch, making me mentally sigh. Thank God this isn't a Cromwell or a Comet, otherwise I'd be needing butter to get in and out of the hatch. Looking in the mentioned direction, it takes me a little bit before I can see the newbies. I smirk as their commander is looking around for us.

"Green as Irish grass. Tosh, very slowly traverse the gun in their direction, but don't fire yet, not until I give the order." I command. "Let's amuse ourselves with their antics as they try to find us."

"Roger that, Mags." She replies. Brienne loads up a shell into the breech and slams it home, a ready to go gun now pointed right at the hull of their Ram. I keep observing them, wondering what they are going to do next.

**#Naomi#**

"I'm hungry…" Haruka randomly blurts out of nowhere. Between hunger and our apparent hunters being nowhere to be seen, the issue didn't compare. I don't really like the fact we weren't even introduced to them in the first place.

"Not now Haruka, we're in the middle of something serious." Serious my ass, I bet to these sadistic opponents of ours, I'm assuming everyone is, they can't wait to put a shell in our tank. "H-Hey, Misaki, hand me the pair of field glasses, will ya?"

The girl handed the binocular like object to me, I wanted to take a look around the area. Who knows, maybe they're over eager or just really bad hunters. I could look around and see their commander or something.

I of course, scanned the surrounding environment, our tank moving at the leisurely speed of Segway. "Come out bloodthirsty birdies…" What do I get? I got nothing, a whole process wasted with no results. "Hiyori, speed up the tank, might as well keep ourselves mobile if we don't see them."

"Roger." Our Ram slowly picks up speed. It's either we find them or they find us. I don't think any of us want the latter of the options. We aren't going down easy at any rate, I'm sure even Misaki is good at operating a gun. We had to test it before fitting it, and she scored hits almost the entire test. But still, it makes me nervous to think we are going up against people who knew their stuff. We knew our stuff, but they knew more stuff, more stuff than we really needed in life. "Misaki, Haruka, you still awake?"

"We're fine actually, I just want something to shoot at, the monotony is killing me to be honest."

"Yeah you're right...where o' where are our friends hiding?"

A shell flies past the front of the tank, taking down a tree to our left. "Oh, there they are." Wait a minute, they just shot at us! "Hiyori, get us out of here and into the best cover within the surrounding area." Our Ram isn't the fastest, but it's fast enough to park us on an opposing side of a hill. Are they going to follow us? Probably, I doubt they were blind enough not see us in that open field. Going across the slope of a hill and hiding behind wasn't the best idea. I'll admit that my tactical prowess isn't the level of other people.

Shell number two tears right over the turret and slams into the ground several meters in front of us. As I turn to where it came from, I can see the riveted metal box rumbling out from cover with a red head holding binoculars poking out from the top, looking right at us, followed by a third shot.

"Death's come to us in a giant metal box!" Okay, I have to laugh at the design of that tank, it's a box, literally a box. No matter, Misaki lets out a shot towards them, then I have Hiyori reverse in a way that angles our armor. We may be new, but we know enough about ballistics to cause some bounces. Our shot grazes the side armor of the box, we only peeved them I guess. The main gun continued to throw more shells at us, a fourth shot, followed by them trying to cut us off.

"We're probably gonna go out, but at least make it showy-" We back into a ditch. Yep, we backed into a ditch, how fun. One moment there's an inspirational speech, the next we're stuck in a ditch. I doubt anyone could mess up more than we could. Before we can do anything else embarrassing, a shell gets us and knocks our track off, paralyzing us. Our opponents roll up to us a few moments later, the red head laughing as she looks at us.

"Oh wow, you newbies sure are somethin'!" She laughs heartily. "Ah don't think we expected that to happen!"

"We'd like to see you put together a tank within days! Just finish us off already!"

"Hahaha, alright, alright. Oi, Tosh, put another into 'em and then let's see about some drinks. Waitin' all this time for them to come out has got me parched!"

The barrel of the gun lowers and fires one last time, finishing us off. That, was terrible. We could only hope to do so much with a 40mm gun. Either way, the match was nice enough, though I already hate the crew for their brashness. Pfft, I'll just leave them stranded in the middle of a field whenever they get tracked.

After what seems like hours, we're finally able to return back to the main portion of the school. The rest of my team has moved on to fixing up the tank again, I just stand next to the other team's tank. What do they call this thing again? Forgot. The redhead who I guess is their commander walks on up and leans against the hull. "Oh hey, you got back. I'm actually surprised you were able to get that piece of shite up and running as quickly as you did."

"I'm surprised you passed through the team with your language, at least we can do something besides shoot and yell."

"Like get shot at and fix up tanks?" She doesn't seem intimidated at all, in fact looking a bit pink in the cheeks, and her breath has an odd smell about it. "Listen, my lassies are some of the best here on this team. We have experience, Scottish strength and tenacity, and Drambuie. We're just tryin' ta give you a taste of the real deal."

"Your strength and tenacity sure applies to facing an opponent who is at a disadvantage, listen, Sterling Bridge happened eight hundred years ago, nows not the time to be try and be tougher than everyone else." I roll my eyes at her, a loudmouth, I'm definitely not caring for their tank.

"Alright that's enough!" Snaps the voice of the president. I look over and the black haired team commander seems to have come down from her tower to wedge herself between me and this boastful braggart.

"I appreciate a catfight as much as anyone else, and by that I mean I will not allow catfights on my team. You wanna hiss and claw at the enemy, fine, but I already have enough to deal with without the possibility of my own team being a danger to itself."

"Hey, I was jus' tryin' to be friendly an' compliment them on how quickly they fixed up that shite of a tank an' she turned it into a fight." Maggie defends, still not moving from the side of the tank as if it's helping to keep her upright.

"I wouldn't call using the word shite a complement to my work, besides, you threw a nicely worded sentence back on the field didn't you?"

Felicita peers at Maggie suspiciously, taking a whiff of the air and putting her hands on her hips. "Maggie, what is that I smell? I think I detect an odor of liquor."

"Huh? Oh, that's just th' Drambuie. We got thirsty after our match an' 'ad a few glasses. It's great, you should 'ave some sometime." The Scotswoman grins and chuckles. "Rest o'the crew is back at the dorm, but as they cannae hold their liquer like I, I decided to see if th' other lasses came back."

Felicita crosses her arms, "While I try to not persecute the consumption of alcohol unless the consumer of liquor is causing trouble while under the influence, I am afraid I cannot condone intoxication on while operating armored vehicles." She turns to me.

"Sincerest apologies. Had I known they would do this I would have put you against someone else. You are on the team now, with full rank and privilege was the rest. Can I perhaps compensate you for our Scottish teammates transgression?"

"I'd be nice if you could teach them some manners, I'll hold that compensation until later though, don't forget it." I started to walk past her towards my team, whispering in her ear along the way. "Don't forget the situation you're in for tankery."

Not my best moment, I'll be honest with that. But hey, I've taken a lot of shit today for the work I've done with my team. Well, at the least arriving in Europe would be a good compensation. At least then I could talk to Europeans that are at the least of any competence to me.

* * *

><p><strong>{Felicita}<strong>

Arriving in Europe is quite the occasion for our school. The students have been at sea for a month now, and they line the decks watching as we pull into our dock. Of course there are no crowds to greet us, we are not only a school far too small to expect fanfare, we are docking in Spain, a country that can be best described as empty. Renting space for our ship and it's crew was cheapest here, and the weather is temperate as well. Today is an excellent example of that. The clouds are fluffy and wispy and the sun is high in the sky as we tie our moorings.

In all of this fanfare, where am I? At the student council office, holding a meeting. The first half of the meeting is our usual business, but once business is aside, I decide to change things up a bit.

"Now that all of you have put forth and discussed your reports I have an announcement to make." I say. Their attention is whole, undivided as they await my declaration. "You all have done an amazing job. Getting our ship running and across the world was no easy task. I think a proper celebration is in order." I take a bottle of sunscreen out from under the desk and roll it to the middle of the table with one hand, and with my other, put a pair of sunglasses atop my head.

"The beach!" Yoko exclaims excitedly, much to the discomfort of everyone else's ears.

"Yes the beach," I reply, "I am organizing a school wide beach party! Enjoyment is mandatory and spontaneity is encouraged!"

Everyone pauses, even Yoko and they all start looking at each other, confused and worried and then they all simultaneously look at me.

"You want spontaneity?" Miyuki asks. "You encourage it?"

"Of course," I reply frankly, "This is a beach party, not a business meeting. So long as nobody is making love on the beach or vandalizing anything I hardly think it fitting of a party to restrict conduct."

Yoko leaps to her feet. "Well then let's cast off our stuffy exteriors and strap on some bikinis cause I wanna hit the sand and strut my stuff!"

"No strutting, Yoko," Miyuki chides her.

"Why can't she?" I ask Miyuki, "We've had a major victory, don't you think morale would be boosted by letting us do as we please?"

"So you're not opposed to flirting?"

"Of course not," I say, "Isn't it perfectly healthy for young women to want companionship?"

The other girls simply stare at me, as if they are seeing an odd spectacle they'd never seen before.

Yoko thrusts her hand up in the air. "Oh yeah, this is what we've been waiting for! I'm gonna go put up the bulletin's right now!"

"We haven't been dismissed yet!" Miyuki snaps.

"You're dismissed!" I counter. One way or another I was going to spread the virtue of the wonderful thing called 'fun', that Yuki taught me was so amazing.

"Yay!" Yoko grabs her folder and runs out of the room like an excited child, almost smashing through the door on her way out. The other girls follow in a mix of excitement and bewilderment. Miyuki is the last one to leave and just stares at me for a good ten seconds before finally leaving.

I am thinking of following them out when there is a gentle rapping at the door and a naval studies girl, probably a first year comes out from behind it.

"Janitorial Department. I'm here to clean the room."

I nod and step aside, to let her though. "Go on in." She enters and as I'm about to leave, a hook of curiosity grabs me. Our room had been cleaned for the entire year by the same girl, and I couldn't even recall her name. Some might argue it was insignificant, but my emotional self tells me I should lend her some of my time, to show that all the students are my domain, not just the high ranking ones. I turn around and head back into the room, coming up alongside her as she sweeps the floor.

"Excuse me but I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm sure you're aware of who I am, but I don't know you yet."

The girl stands up straight and bows, curtsying one end of her skirt. "Mi chiamo Carissa Adelardi. I'm Carissa; nice to meet you." Her bright green eyes seem to be sparkling and her ear length black hair curls at the ends, framing her smiling face beautifully.

"Nice to meet you Carissa," I say, letting the pleasant and inviting smile put me at ease, "I am sorry if I may have seemed cut off earlier."

Carissa giggles. "Non c'è problema. Don't worry about it. Most people don't notice the Janitorial Division. If we manage to do our job without being noticed, I think it means we're doing it well. Besides, the president is so busy, you don't need to worry about it."

"Well no reason I can't get to know you right?" I ask, a bit nervous. My intuition had told me to make friends with this girl, now I wasn't entirely sure how it was done. "So… Perhaps…" I think for a moment, "Perhaps when we go to the beach you would like to… Come with us?"

"Oh, the beach! Sì, I'd love to go to the beach! Curious, though, you're inviting the janitor girl all of a sudden? Is this something that comes before a prank?" She asks wryly.

I raise my hands defensively. "This is not in jest I can assure you. The invitation is genuine!"

Carissa laughs, a kind of laughter I've never heard before. It's so… Hearty and full of life.

"Oh don't worry I was only joking. I'd be happy to go to the beach with you. I love the water. It would also give me a chance to wear my new bathing suit."

I rub the back of my head sheepishly. I still had a lot to learn about interacting with people outside a business environment. "Well I expect to see you there Carissa. It will be intriguing to get to know you."

"Mhmm yes you are right. Mind if I ask you a question, slightly personal?"

"Sure, as long as it isn't too prying."

"You're name is Felicita yes? I was just wondering why a Japanese girl would have a latin name."

I bite my lip as the memory comes back. "I… Think this a personal matter. If we become friends I will let you know."

Carissa frowned slightly. "Oh… Sorry. Well anyway, I'd better get to work and I'm sure you do too so, just call me with where we'll be meeting up and I'll be there."

"Sure," I say, "There are enough students that I've had to group them over several beaches. I'll text you the location of ours." I pull my phone out and we exchange numbers, and I promptly send her the location.

"Bene." She smiled. "Well I will see you later yes? I hope we can become friends."

"Yes, we'll see each other shortly. Good day Miss Adelardi." I say, stepping out of the room. I had made a friend, and didn't embarrass myself. Now I am feeling the emotion of excitement, of being giddy, and I begin to text Yuki all about my socializing escapades.

* * *

><p><strong>[Yuki]<strong>

The beach is wonderful sight to behold after a month of nothing but bleak, ice ridden sea. Even though it's early November, after where we've been it feels like paradise. There are few clouds to stop the suns warmth, and bikini's are the norm for clothing as me Yunko and Hikari head to the meeting point with Felicita we agreed on. Yunko is wearing a black bikini that nicely shows off her curvier figure, while Hikari chose a simple pink one piece that while showing less skin, still looks nice on her as it hugs her body. Of course lacking any actual bust and needing as much coverage as I can, I of course have opted for a very conservative green one piece with some silver writing on it.

We arrive at the meeting point and Felicita actually arrives a whopping 23 seconds late! Not late enough to be concerned, but enough to elicit a chuckle from me. My black haired lover is dressed in a simple Navy blue one piece with her name across the middle, and I can't tell if she's making fun of her own prior dullness in fashion or still has it. I give her a warm hug as a greeting either way.

"Hey Feli, how's it going?" I ask. We pull back from the hug and Felicita is wearing an uncharacteristic smile.

"I find the conditions of this beach satisfactory for merriment!" She says, and while it's the same high level vocabulary she's always used there's an unmistakable sense of enthusiasm in the way she says it. Never has such a dry, dull sentence been said with such excitement.

Hikari looks at her with an expression somewhere between exasperated and dumbfounded. "Couldn't you say something more along the lines of: 'this beach is awesome' or 'what a fantastic beach'? You made it sound so boring."

Felicita puts her hands on her hips, "I did say that Hikari. I said it with the words I know best. I hope you young ladies are prepared to engage in enjoyment of these pleasant conditions regardless of my vocabulary." She pauses then adds, slowly, with visible effort, "Or…. As you would say… I hope you can… Have fun… Without letting my big words… Get in the way."

I come to the side of my President and wrap my arms around hers supportively and she gives me a grateful smile.

Yunko shrugs. "You just gotta learn that there's a time and place for big words." She holds up a plastic bucket and shovel. "I'm gonna make sand castles."

"Good luck with building your silicon-oxide based medieval fortress!" Felicita calls as she heads off. I sighed and silently rub my head on her shoulder. She was trying, at least. Yunko comes over and lightly raps on Felicita's head with her shovel, but it's in an affectionate manner.

"Keep talking like that, people will think you're an alien."

"Ciao a tutti!" Everyone turns and I see a girl I don't recognize. She is wearing a light green bikini with frills that made the simple outfit seem more elaborate and my eyes are drawn to her well filled hips, even as she twirls slowly to show off her outfit. Simply put, her hips and rear are the biggest I had ever been witness to that could still be called firm. Not wanting to be caught staring I look back up at her face.

"Uh….who might you be?" I manage to ask.

"Carissa Adelardi. I was invited by signora Felicita to have fun with her at the beach."

I notice now that she is carrying a large picnic basket. Had my eyes really been distracted enough to miss that?

"I'm not late am I?" She asks.

Felicita shakes her head, "No, not at all Carissa." She nudges me gently, a cue to introduce myself.

"Nice to meet you Carissa," I say to her, "I'm Yuki Hayashi."

"Nice to meet you." She held up the basket. "I made us a nice lunch that we can eat later. Much cheaper than going to all the overpriced stalls around here."

"Oh?" Felicita looks interested, "You hand crafted this meal?"

"Oh yes I did. I grew up in a restaurant and a large family so I had to learn all things that a mother ought to know, especially with how many of my relatives are pregnant at any one time, food is important. I had to learn early to sew and clean, so I guess the janitorial duties come naturally to me." She giggles. "Don't worry, I wash my hands well and often."

"Ah. I know nothing of such skills myself. Never had children in mind and my family isn't very large," Felicita replies, "So Carissa, what sorts of enjoyment do you conventionally treat yourself to whilst on the beach?"

"Hmmm well I usually just like to relax and do a little swimming but I prefer to just float in the water or rest in the shade. I admit I'm not a particularly active girl."

"You can help me make sandcastles." Yunko offered.

"Ah, sì I'd love to."

"It was nice meeting you Carissa," I say as she departs to go build sandcastles

"She's hanging out with us all day" Hikari says. "It's not like she's going anywhere." She watches as the two girls dash off to the sand and try to pick a spot for their castle. "But damn, talk about junk in your trunk. Bet a lot of guys would like to have her on their laps."

"Excuse me, Hikari, what do you mean by men wanting to seat her on their laps?" Felicita asks, a bit confused, "What is it about her that would make her better suited to that purpose?"

Hikari raises an eyebrow at her. "Didn't you see that ass of hers? It's like someone stuffed it full of marshmallows. A lot of them. Guys love a girl with a nice ass that they can feel and grab. If she sits on his lap, he can feel it in public without his hands and she's got a lot of ass to feel."

Felicita nods. "So I see. Well this has been an enlightening conversation. Yuki! Let us make for the water! we have enjoyment to indulged in!" She begins dragging me off towards the water, Hikari following along, watching Felicita like a wary guard dog.

"Yuki, as I am aware you are now less afraid of other people?" Felicita asks me.

"Hehe, well you're the one who got me there, you should know." I reply. Felicita grins at me and sees Maggie in the water near us.

"Then display your newfound courage to me!" She challenges, raising her voice to a shout, "Maggie! Yuki challenges you to a water fight! Go Yuki!" And she tosses me into the water with the bigger Scottish lass. The fight doesn't last five seconds before I'm already calling for reinforcements.

"Hikari! Felicita! Anyoooooone!"

**|Shaun|**

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the beach? It's amazing, all the sun and sand and water, so much better than being cold and damp back home. There was a good reason why everyone at our old school enjoyed going on trips to Spain to go on the beaches. Well that and people of the opposite sexes in swimsuits. At the moment I'm watching Maggie totally thrashing that Yuki girl in a water fight. Not exactly a fair fight to be honest. Mags might have D breasts but that never slowed her down, and she was aggressive as always, but still having fun. The other girls are off doing their own things, Brienne lying in the sun, Tosh and Falkner finding a volleyball and hitting it back and forth between one another, and Sam found an umbrella to sit and read under. As for me, other than watching these two go at it, I'm not sure what I'd do. Looking around I see two girls incoming towards me.

One of them is a familiar tan babe in a red bikini that could best be described as thin string. For all intents and purposes she was naked as she was, every bit of her extremely well muscled body shown off, though there was also enough fat on her to smooth those muscles out. Even though we're going to be swimming she still has her spiky, thrash metal haircut. Beside her is her friend, equally familiar as barring times where she asked me out, she was always at Ele's side. Illaria, the blue haired girl, seemed more sensible as her blue hair was let down, being very straight in it's natural form, reaching down past her shoulder blades slightly. Her swimsuit was a well covering white one piece with several chibi otters decorating it.

"Hey gorgeous!" Ele calls over as she waves enthusiastically at me. I blink a few times to make sure I know what I'm looking at is real and try to pretend that I was unfazed.

"O-oh uh hi Ele." Smooth. "What you doin' this neck of the woods?"

Ele bursts into laughter and puts me in a headlock, "You are one silly boy Shaun! This is a beach not the woods!"

Illaria clears her throat, "Ele, it's a figure of speech."

"No, this is a beach!" Ele shoots back, "Not a figure of speech, nor the woods! What's gotten into you people today?"

Normally I would try to worm myself out of her grasp, but it feels… Rather good now. She has my cheek pressed against her side as she holds me there. "You… Wanna do something?" I manage to ask.

"Yeah. There are a lot of things I wanna do," Ele winks at me, letting me go and pulling me up against her so her C cup breasts squish against my chest, causing her to moan, "Too bad this isn't a nudist beach or I'd have even more things I'd wanna do."

I swear she is purposely trying to turn me on now. Her beautiful, delicious milk chocolate skin is warm against mine and I'm not even sure what to do. I think this is the first time I've been genuinely turned on and fallen for a girl in a long while. "W-Well what can we do then?"

"Mmmm I think we can do some things that won't get us suspended…" She traces a finger down my spine. "Like this game I made up called water pong."

"Oh? What are the rules of water pong?"

"You take any sort of ball that can float. Soccer ball, volleyball, basketball, doesn't matter." She twirls her finger in circles at the small of my back. "Then you use the water to push the ball around. The idea is to make it so you were the one who pushed the ball onto shore. You can't touch the ball, but you can touch the other person." She winks. Her fingers are starting to drive me crazy and I nod.

"So what happens when someone wins?"

Ele shrugs, "Well then you win. Isn't winning awesome?" She pauses and holds her finger still, pressing it into me firmly, "Actually, how about the loser has to throw their swimsuit as far offshore as they can and then wait ten seconds before getting to retrieve them?"

"Deal." Why did I say that? Oh wait, I know why. I'm wrapped up in all the hormones radiating between us that I'm willing to toss my swimming trunks for a shot at her naked for ten seconds. Welp, ain't nothing to do but to do it. Ele let's me go and runs off to find some sort of ball and I'm left with her friend, Illaria for the moment.

"Ele really likes you doesn't she?" She asks in a soft but firm voice.

"Y-yeah… At least I think so." I try to compose myself from being so close to Ele for as long as I was. Her crimson eyes lock onto me firmly, shooting me a look rather fearsome for a girl of her size and usual shyness.

"Alright then. If I catch you trying to exploit her physically because she's lonely, I will personally make sure you end up in permanent trauma care." She says threateningly I hold up my hands defensively.

"Hey, I'm not just after her for a romp, ok? I do really like her. She's so exotic looking. We never had people darker than Englishmen up in Scotland, and I somehow enjoy the way she flirts. It's adorable and direct."

Illaria smiles at me a little, "Well okay then. You seem alright. Come talk to me if you need any tips, I want to see her happy." Ele comes back holding a soccer ball. Not sure where she found it, but given the country we were in, beach soccer was not an unimaginable concept.

"Come on sweet thing, I gotta see you naked!" She grabs my arm with her free one and begins pulling me to the water. I just manage to keep in step with her as we trudge into the cool, salty water, going out a little bit before stopping.

"Alrighty, you ready?"

Ele rubs her hands together, "Oh you don't even know! Illaria, you ready?" She calls over to her friend, who stands by the shore to act as referee.

"Ready!" She calls back. Ele pushes the ball onto the calm water between us and we both swim a ways back.

"Game begins in three! Two! One!" Illaria shouts, and we begin to battle each other to try and keep the ball in our little area of ocean. Little more than a few minutes later, I'm exhausted from trying to beat Ele, but with one mighty push she wins it. The moment the ball hits the sand I hear Ele cry loudly.

"IIIIIILLLLLLARIA, GET THE CAMERAAAAAA!"

**[Rei]**

I smile as I feel the fresh sea breeze come in off the beach. I can see people frolicking in the water and running around on the sand, or making sand castles. Some simply try to sunbathe. The weather was a bit warm for Spain at this time of year and everyone was making the most of it. Well… almost everyone.

"I see a nice shaded place away from everyone." Komo says, pointing to a cluster of trees. "We'll sit there Rei."

Without waiting for me to even voice an opinion she starts walking towards it and sighing, I follow her.

I put down the picnic basket and lay down the beach blanket for us on the sand amongst the trees. I could ask Komo what the point of coming to the beach was but I know what the answer would be. She'd say: "_Because it's a nice day and that's when people go to the beach. We don't want people to think lesser of us because we didn't go."_

Much like her parents, Komo cared too much about appearances, and it was that mentality that got their family into its current situation. It upset me quite a bit but there wasn't much I could do except stick with her.

We're both wearing our bikinis with white beach jackets covering our tops. It's a bit warm to wear them in this weather but they help us maintain some modesty away from the beach.

Looking at Komo as she's illuminated by the rays of sunlight penetrating the shade of the trees I think about how pretty she is. She's not a particularly curvy girl, but she's not flat either and she has a very lovely face. I love to see it light up when she smiles but I haven't seen that smile for a long time, not since her family fell into their current hole, and she became closed off, determined not to let anyone in.

I follow her gaze and see that she's watching our teammates play and run about in the water, splashing each other and laughing. They looked like they were having so much fun. I could see the deep longing in Komo's eyes a mile away, even with a glance. She used to do those things. Play in the water and have fun, like you were supposed to do at the beach. Not any more though.

"Sure you don't want to play?" I ask her, knowing full well what the answer will be.

"I'm sure. I'm not friends with them."

"You could be if you wanted to. They're all nice girls Komo."

"I don't want anyone else to get close to me." She said curtly. Her eyes are hard and cold but they soon soften and she turns her head away from me slightly. I feel her dainty fingers gently brush against mine before nervously grasping them. Her hands are just as warm as they always were, and that gives me some relief, some hope.

"You're the only person I need this close to me."

I sigh inwardly. Komo doesn't want anyone to get close to her for a number of reasons. Mostly because she doesn't want anyone to find out about her current family circumstances and she doesn't want to have to work hard to maintain a mask to keep up her personal image and family image anymore than she has to. I think she's over thinking it and most of the girls on our team couldn't care less about such things when it came to making a friend but Komo isn't so sure.

I reach into the picnic basket and pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "You hungry?"

She says nothing but accepts it, biting into it with a grumpy look on her face, but I see the faintest quiver of a smile on her lips. Yes, I know my Komo. She loves PB&J.

I look over to the other side of the beach, far off away from us, and see a massive crowd and flashing police lights. "What's going on over there?"

Komo looks up from her sandwich. "Hm?"

I point to the massive gathering of people and I can hear cries and shouts. Bodies are being dragged out of the crowd and to the care of paramedics.

"Some kind of riot?" Komo asked.

"I think it's an accident or something." I say. "I hope it doesn't affect us here."

"I doubt it." Komo finishes off her sandwich and lies down. "I think I'll take a nap to digest."

"You only had one sandwich."

"Well excuse me for not being a glutton." She says harshly. "Wake me if it's time to leave before I wake." And just like that she closes her eyes and turns herself off from the world. Not asleep, just ignoring everything around her.

She's not fooling me. I know she's eating less to try and save money, but I'm really worried about her health. She's been like this for a while now and her once pretty, fulfilled body is starting to look a bit boney.

I look back at our teammates playing and I feel the strong urge to join them. With Komo shutting herself off I could do it easily, but I know how badly she'd react if she came to and I was not there, so instead I lay down next to her and grab her waist to pull her closer, letting her know I'm not going anywhere.

This was still the Komo I knew from early childhood. My friend who never once abandoned me, never once betrayed me, never failed to do her utmost to help me once we became true friends. She was just running away from the world that she felt was trying to get her, and I had to try and bring her back, or wait for her to come back on her own. Until then, I would not leave her side, because I know she needs me. Why am I doing these things? Because I love her, my closest and dearest friend, and intimate companion.

I honestly don't care if people misunderstand our relationship as something else, because the fact that they misunderstand it means that they don't have it. I, and even Komo, feel all the richer for that, and that's how I know that my Komo will come back some day. She just needs some good people and friends around her to keep the monsters away. Until that day comes, I will stand vigilant.

**~Dakota~**

"Pwoing… Pwoing… Pwoing… Pwoing….." Goes the passive sonar of our submarine as we approach the target, creeping along. The sub is locked down for silent running and slipping through the water at a crawl of 3 knots. I view the target through the periscope, a lone merchant, which is holding a steady bearing at 8 knots by the estimates of our weapons officer.

As we draw closer my XO questions the extreme caution I am putting into this attack. Of course, he's a rookie and hasn't seen what the enemy Navy has up it's sleeve. More than once, in my days as a green skipper fresh out of the academy I would make a careless run at a lone vessel at full speed eager to get a kill, only to discover it was a subchaser mocked up as a merchant, or the merchant in question had sonar and radioed for air support.

So we were going to take it nice and slow. As we pull up to about 1000 yards I can see the name of the merchant ship painted in white on its blue bow. _HKJMSS Mayfield._

With range and speed input into the TDC, the position keeper keeps the data for the torpedoes updated. All we have to do is get close. At 800 yards I decide we're close enough and I take one last look through the periscope, selecting tubes 1 and 2. One bow, one stern shot. Make sure to save our fish for later targets. I slap the big red button to fire torpedoes, and there is a hissing noise as the warheads slip from the launcher and swim towards their targets. At this range with them running full speed, it doesn't take long, and the torpedo impacts with a:

_SPLOOOSH!_

"Aahhhhh." Tilly put her hands up in front of her face to block she spray of water from her face, though she was a little too late and she was drenched by it. She tried vainly to splash me back but my slippery sub crash dives before the enemy fire does any damage.

I know Tilly is disoriented from being attacked and she didn't see where I went. Looking up with my periscope I can see she's still trying to wipe her face and get the water out of her eyes. She's real tiny so any hit does lots of damage to her.

I sling my torpedo tube over my shoulder, or rather, my Type 93 water cannon. It was a stand in while I worked on my actual foam torpedo launcher, a water cannon that could shoot six high velocity bursts of water up to 50 yards using compressed air. Of course the Type 93 part of the name was in homage to the Type 93 long lance torpedo, possibly the best torpedo of the war and ten times better than any torpedo in the world when it was first introduced. My water cannon looks exactly like a Type 93 torpedo, the only visibly difference is of course the arming panel which allowed me to select which tubes I was using and the big red fire button. Tilly wasn't a high displacement vessel, and I didn't want to waste more torpedoes on her, so I pulled my 4 inch 50 caliber deck gun from it's clipping on my belt. I'd also fashioned a squirt gun to resemble the US 4"/50 deck gun of the same era. Yes it was odd mixing US and IJN equipment, but since I wasn't restricted by history's realities, why should I deny myself the best of both worlds?

I resurface behind the still shocked _Mayfield_ and begin to open fire with my deck gun, blasting her into submission.

"Ah!" Tilly turns around and realizes I'm there but it's no use, my DPM is too much for her already depleted health pool to manage. She won't last long!

"Dakota!"

Startled, my air warning radar goes off and I look up to see something coming down at me. A dive bomber? No…. It's a monitor attacking me, shells so big they set off the radar and you can see them coming at you. HMCS Milly lands in the water right next to me and her gigantic milk cannons, which belong on a battleship, slap the water and make a huge wave that capsizes me and washes me away. Pretty far too.

I manage to resurface and look up into a pair of big green eyes looking down at me. Something that doesn't happen very often.

"Dakota are you bullying poor Tilly?"

I shrink back down in the water till only my mouth and eyes are at the surface. Behind me my huge hair floats at the surface like some sorts of big hairy monster. In a two dimensional sense, my hair, let down, was as big or bigger than several girls here.

"N-no Milly. I was just playing."

"Well play a little more gently" she scolds me. "You almost stopped her little heart with that massive torpedo gun of yours. That's something you fight boys and big girls with, not Tilly's. The water pistol's fine but try not to bully her. You know what's she's like. She's emotionally delicate."

I decide to surface my head. We're behind a breakwater at the moment so I can actually stand in the water.

"I know Milly. I just love playing these games and I haven't been able to operate on open ocean waters in fooooorever!" Okay, forever was a bit of an exaggeration, but I had needs that hadn't been tended to for over a month. Among them, my need to turn into a submarine every once in a while. And a pool could only hold me over for so long!

Milly sighs and pets my head. "I know Kota, but if you want to be able to play a little rough you should go play with the big girls. You know Tilly's been abused, she doesn't react well to that kind of stuff. If you're going to play a game with her, make sure she's aware of it and is a part of the game. Like a mommy playing with her baby."

I nod softly. Tilly was kinda like a baby alright. A lot of people said she hadn't changed a bit since she was in grade school, except gotten smarter, and not all of them meant it nicely either. I wanted to be a Mommy to her but I was too young and still learning how a Momma worked. So I instead tried to be sister like to her.

"Can I… Can I go say sorry?" I ask Milly.

"Yes, you can go say sorry." She pats my head. "Would you like some nummy sammiches to eat while you're in da water Dakota?"

I bob my head, "Yes that would be nice."

"Alright then I'll be right back. Be good Dakota." Milly starts wading away. The water here is pretty shallow but Milly's really short and her oversized cannons mean she has bad seakeeping. Doesn't cut through waves at all.

Tilly is just a little ways away, half sitting, half floating in the shallow water, her orange hair is all spread out by the water and looks like a sea plant.

"Tilly," I squeak at her softly. Tilly jerks and immediately puts her hands in front of her face defensively, uttering a soft cry of fear. Seeing her like a frightened and hurt bunny makes me feel awful, like digesting an airplane. I raise my hands to show her I will not torpedoe or shoot her.

"I….I came to tell you…." My voice get's squeakier, "Sorry."

Tilly slowly turned to look at me and puts her hands down slowly. She looked down at the water and pouts. "I-I'm sorry for being such a baby. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. It just…. reminded me of my brothers."

"No, I was wrong Tilly," I tell her, "I shouldn't have attacked you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me Tilly,. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"No I… I forgive you it's just…. I'm… Still a little baby. And I hate it. I joined the team to try and grow up but… So far it's not working."

"It'll get better Tilly," I tell her, "It always will, I promise." I say, opening my arms in offering of a hug. Tilly wades in close and wraps her tiny arms around me. She really is teeny.

"Awww that's so cute." Milly has come back and she has stacks of sammiches of her chest buoys as she floats over to us. She's gone from being a Monitor to a submarine tender rather quickly.

"Come and eat up girls, and try not to get cramps. Tilly, I expect you to eat the whole thing okay?"

Tilly winces. Milly has been trying to get Tilly to eat more so she can grow some but Tilly doesn't really like to eat much. She grabs one of the sammiches off the stack on Milly's right and starts to munch on it. Her hands are really tiny so the sammich looks big for her. I grab one for myself and begin munching it. They're my sammiches actually, homemade. This one has a little too much lettuce up front and could use some more mayo in the middle. Sammiches are serious business, and I must make sure I never rest until I've created the perfect one. Sammiches aside, Tilly's mood seems to be improving with the food. That's good. Expected, but good. After all, everyone loves sammiches. Hopefully Tilly would grow up soon and she'd be a big girl soon.

**|Shaun|**

This day couldn't have gone any worse for me. I lost to Ele in the water pong match, and true to the deal, I slipped off my trunks and tossed them as far as I could before going to get them ten seconds later. I had only just got back with them when Illaria came back with a camera in her hand. There were flashes as I rushed to get my swimsuit on, and finally cover up myself. I was flush red in the face with embarrassment, and yet somehow I didn't care too much about it because there was Ele with the water glistening on her tan skin, being all awesome and sexy.

Now the rest of the day had gone by and we were getting ready to head back, the sun low in the sky and the orange light making Ele look even more tan than she already was.

"I guess this is it for the beach huh?" Ele says as we're heading off, wrapping an arm around me, "Damn, just as I was really starting to get into it."

"Yeah..." I look over at her as I put my arm around her, feeling more comfortable with the idea of her and I. "Well we could do some things when we get back and get changed you know if you want."

With this lighting it's hard to tell, but I swear I see pink on her cheeks. "Yeah. I mean, my schedule is pretty tight what with me being so awesome, but I might be able to work an exception in for you." She winks. I venture and gently pull her tighter to me, feeling her nice well toned body.

"I'm up for anything. Shall we go and get changed and then meet up at your place or something?"

"I'll see if I have time," Ele replies, and for a brief second she sounds almost… Sheepish. "But I hope I will." She pauses, then wraps her arm around mine and pulls me close, "I know I may come off as aggressive and intimidating, but that's just because I'm a girl who knows what she wants. And what I want is you." And with that she bounds off. I am left basically speechless. She wants me? I can feel my chest getting a fuzzy warm feeling in it as I run her words through again and again. Plus her going sheepish on me was almost… Adorable in a way that only she could pull off. I can't help but follow her firm, shapely rear as she bounds away from me.

"She is a special case isn't she?" Comes a voice from behind me. I turn around and I see Illaria standing behind me, arms crossed but with a knowing smile on her face.

"A special case?" I ask intrigued.

"You didn't notice already?" Illaria asks me, "Ele isn't like other girls is she?"

"Oh, yeah. She isn't. That's what makes her so interesting to me."

Illaria nods and places a hand on my shoulder. "Well then I think we'll be talking quite a bit more, very shortly." Her eyes now have a sort of seriousness to them, but remain pleasant still.

"Uh… What do you mean?"

"Well you seem nice enough, but I can't be sure until I get to know you," Illaria explains, "And if you're up to muster, I'll even help you out."

"Oh, uh, thanks." I smile at her. "Might need it."

"Oh I know you will." She waves at me, "See you around Shaun." She waves and runs off to catch up with Ele. I sigh heavily, looking at Ele one last time before going to grab my stuff and meet up with the rest of the lasses. There's the teasing that I might have myself a girlfriend finally from everyone save Maggie, who grabs me and gives me a noogie playfully. Girlfriend… Ele… It sounds like it fits in my head, and I have a happy grin on my face as I hope to see her again soon.

* * *

><p><strong>{Felicita}<strong>

The beach was an excellent idea of mine if I say so myself. Me, Yuki, his friends, and Carissa, all had lots of enjoyment, and I experienced the beach from a new paradigm that invigorated my spirit. On a large scale, the student body seemed to enjoy it immensely, with plentiful attendance among all groups of the students. It is definitely something I wish to repeat when we get back to Japan and the spring months come.

At the end of the day, I return to our school ship. I say goodbye to Yuki in the halls when we manage to get out of sight of the others, giving him a kiss on the lips before I leave his presence. His luminous blush gives me the most giddy and girlish of emotions, as if his pillow soft little lips aren't already enough for that.

I arrive back in my dorm and almost immediately change into my nightwear. After the long day of diligent enjoyment, I am tempted to rest immediately but I feel that checking my E-mail would be wise since I haven't checked it for over six hours. I sit down at my bedside table and open up my laptop, quickly booting it up and opening my browser.

3 unread Emails. I look at the titles. Two of them are reports from today's meeting sent to me by Atsuko and Miyuki as digital backups. I would deal with those tomorrow. The third however is different. It's an official Email from the European Junior Tankery Tournament Board of Officials. This seems important, so I open it to skim it's contents.

_Dear Commander Yamaguchi,_

_We are pleased to inform you your school has been successfully entered in the EJTT, we hope you enjoy the provision our various host countries have to offer and…._

_For the first round of matches, all teams will be matched against randomly selected opponents. Click the link below to view this years first round matchups._

Of course I click the link and I am taken to a page with a tree style elimination table. All the slots at the bottom are filled out,and I check around for our school, finding us to be matched up against a team named "Fort Knox Armor Academy- Junior Team". Interesting name enough. I make a mental note to research them tomorrow, and I close my browser and shut my laptop, rolling into bed and neatly pulling the covers over me, putting another day to it's end.


	12. Chapter XII

**[Yuki]**

"Thank you all for coming, please be seated," Felicita says as me and the rest of the tank commanders file into her office, which she has set up with a slide projector. A slide projector. With a light bulb and actual, physical slides. Well, I guess it was better than a chalk board. The first slide is a picture of a logo featuring a two story, white stone building, the top story a little smaller than the bottom, with the letters FKAA below it.

"Our opponent for the first match is an American school, Fort Knox Armored Academy," Felicita explains to us, using a wooden pointer to gesture to the logo. "They are one of the largest armored schools in the country. Many of their students go on to join the actual US armored corps."

"So they're a big name clan- er, school huh?" Dakota asks softly, tapping one of her braids on the arm of her chair, "I guess they'll be bringing lots of expensive tanks."

Felicita nods and brings us to the first slide, which shows us a tank that anyone who knew anything about tanks could identify.

"This is a Sherman tank," Felicita told us. We all knew that. "To be more specific, it's the heavy assault tank M4A3E2 Sherman, also called the Jumbo by Americans."

"Heh. No wonder." Maggie chuckled. "Do they have one called 'Happy Meal' too?"

A few chuckles are heard amongst us, Felcita's eyes going dead as she fails to process the joke. "I don't think… They ever made a Sherman variant named 'Happy Meal', but I shall look into it. Anyways, onto more info on the Jumbo." She pulls up another slide with all the armor values labeled.

"The Jumbo is a very tough tank. The side of the turret alone is thicker than any armor on the Tiger tank. The front is comparable to the IS-2 in hull protection, and the turret front is also exceptionally thick. It's only 8 millimeters shy of being as thick as the late production King Tiger turrets."

"So you're suggesting we bang our skulls against it?" Komo asks callously, "Give it indigestion? The only way we can get beat it is by hitting the weak spots. I think that's obvious to anyone." She crosses her arms and huffs.

"The weak points are the side of the hull, which are about seventy millimeters thick." Felicita explains, "Aim for that." She goes to the next slide showing two types of turrets, one with a long barreled gun and one without. "There are two variations on use. Two of their tanks use the long barreled 76mm M1A1 gun capable of destroying anything we have from any range. The others use the 75mm M3 gun, which our Semovente is immune to at all but point blank range."

Dakota claps, "So if we find one, we won't have much to worry about right?"

"Assuming it's alone," I point out to her, "You can't count on them to split up."

"Then we make them split up, or we get the jump on them," Maggie suggested. "If we can get on their flanks or make them turn to face someone while others take the shots, we shouldn't have much problem with their 'Triple Baconator' front armor."

"We'll get into tactical discussion once we've covered their lineup," Felicita says, showing us the next slide. This tank is much sleeker, with a lower profile and torsion bar suspension. It has a very long gun and spaced armor in front of the turret. Felicita looks like she's about to say something when she's cut off.

"Is that a Super Pershing!?" The Scottish girl interjects and… Did she actually squee? "Ohh mama. That long 90mm gun is so perfect! Well, not as perfect as some other guns, but it's beautiful!"

Felicita bites her lip, looking rather irked at being cut off, but she says nothing about it, only continues. "Yes, this is the T26E4 Super Pershing. Very comparable to the Jumbo in terms of armor, but with a lower profile and a gun that can destroy us from beyond even the maximum range of our guns, the powerful 90mm T15E1. Apply the same tactics facing this as you would the Jumbo, but with extra wariness of their gun. They have two of these vehicles."

She goes on to the next slide, showing us a tank with a hull very similar to the Super Pershing, but with a gargantuan turret and a massive, long gun barrel. Felicita looks over at Maggie somewhat expectantly.

"Would you mind enlightening us all as to what this vehicle is called?"

"Ain't that the T29? Basically a more up armored turret but the hull is the same. If we can deny it usage of that mantlet, we should. Otherwise it's a veritable bunker of a tank," she answered with a grin on her face.

Felicita nodded, "Indeed. The turret traverse is very slow so it is vulnerable to flanking, but the mantlet and turret face are impervious to most weapons fielded in all of tankery. The weapon is a 105mm long barreled gun, designed with destroying late war German heavy tanks in mind. The range on it is extreme, and the penetration power is immense."

"An American war elephant basically," Komo comments. She was much less sarcastic than last time.

"Crewed by war elephants." The redhead sniggered again. "Oh these Yanks leave themselves open to so many jokes. Highest world obesity rate ho!"

"Hey, we're not!" Dakota protests, "We are only eight in the world mind you. Kuwait is actually the highest."

"I think we came here to talk about something more relevant than obesity rates," I sigh.

"Yes indeed," Felicita agrees with me, and we exchange a small look of knowing between us before she continues. The next slide shows us a rather imposing vehicle. It looks like a bunker on tracks, very wide with very thick looking armor on the front and a gun almost as long as the tank itself. I recognize it immediately, it's a T95 superheavy assault gun. I can feel a shiver go up my spine just seeing it, knowing now we'd have to face it.

"This is the T95 Motor Gun Carriage," she informs us, "The crown jewel of their lineup. It's a very large anti fortification vehicle developed for the final assault on Germany itself, and when they were defeated, the program continued in anticipation of landings on the Japanese mainland. As such, it was designed with enduring shells from Naval guns that would be mounted in such bunkers. It's frontal armor is three hundred fifty millimeters thick."

That statistic raises some eyebrows. Even someone who wasn't a tank expert knew that was some massively thick armor.

"As you can imagine, it is frontally immune to all our guns, even with subcaliber tungsten shells. The sides are one hundred fifty millimeters thick, meaning even the slightest angling will defeat even our Stridsvagns cannon."

"Then what do you want us to do?" Komo asks. "Even if we immobilize it somehow it doesn't count if we can't kill it. Should we pull an Oarai and perhaps shoot the roof?"

Felciita shakes her head, "Aside from the fact we have no tanks that would be viable as a ramp, there is a less risky way. The rear of the vehicle is only 50 millimeters thick, Any of our vehicles save for the Panzer IIs can penetrate with ease." She moved on to another slide displaying the rear of the vehicle. "Only the flat lower part is vulnerable. The upper portion of the rear hull is so sharply angled that even massive high caliber shells will stand a high chance of ricochet."

"...shite…" For the first time it seemed in this commander's meeting, Maggie had nothing witty to comment. Felicita looks over towards Eureka, sitting the furthest from the projector and closest to the door of any of us.

"You look as if something is occupying your mind."

"How willing are you wanting to take out that T95?"

"If at all possible we don't want to confront it al all," Felicita replied, "With a top speed of 13 kilometers per hour it can be easily bypassed, and so long as it's not the flag tank that's what I intend to do." She stood up and walked over closer to the screen.

"This T95 is a loose link in their doctrine, it's far too handicapped to be of any use other than a roadblock…" She then directly stared at the tank's picture itself. "I'd bet a fortune of Yen that that's their flag tank, it's obvious from the get go, between the sheer amount of armor they plan to use with it and the weaknesses it has implies it serves that single purpose."

Felicita taps her chin, "I was afraid that might be the case but I didn't want to commit to assuming unless we were sure. You make a good case though Eureka. So assuming it is the flag tank, what would you propose?"

"No quarter to our enemies… We strike directly and swiftly, cut the head before it spouts fire. No doubt they have quite a large company with it to protect it." Her eyes were much colder in their gaze than usual, it looked like she quickly scanned the tank. "Their frontal weaknesses are… Here, here, here, here and here."

She quickly pointed at the two top cupolas, a side portion of the gun mantlet, the tracks and the space underneath the T95.

"I see, but it would be even better if we could get some effective thickness values" Felicita remarks, turning to the rest of us, "One more tactical consideration though. The team we are facing is their Junior Team. Meaning all their students are in their first year of tankery."

"Both cupolas are faced frontally with 200mm effective armor, that's not what I mean though." She got even closer and directly pointed on the screen herself. "Their viewports are placed at near 130mm, we blind the beast, then cut the head."

"Any penetrating hit will cause a knockout. Out Strv's gun can make quick work of that thickness if they stay still enough for us to hit it. However I suspect the T95 won't be at the front. With it's gun and armor they can have it hang back 1000 or more meters and have it blast away at us while the Jumbos and Super Pershings put pressure on us."

"...taken...targets...longer...than that…" She mumbled something I could only barely make some of the words out on. "We have no hope of flanking them effectively as well, their side armor is placed at near 170mm, upper side being 130mm, good luck hitting that at a straight angle."

Felicita nodded, "Which is why I've prepared a plan specifically for this. Our battlefield-" She brought up a new slide of a map, "Is the Dutch town of Arnhem, and the surrounding area. Now, if you knew you had a large town between you and your enemies, wouldn't you want to set up in town?"

Suddenly, Eureka slammed both her hands down onto the table. "You mean to say we're going to face the enemy in the place they're most effective? They can just easily surround us as to move freely in numbers and armor, no leeway as to escape if we make one screwup."

Felicita nods, "That's why we won't mess up. Plus this type of fight favors us. Their heavy tanks, with large hulls, slow traverse and long barreled guns are ill suited for narrow streets. It also gives us a greater chance to get shots at their flanks. Our light tanks will make sure they don't notice our ambush until it's too late."

"Besides, wouldn't it be awesome to be Sean Connery and fight the enemy doggedly even though you're outgunned?" Maggie seemed to have gotten back to her usual self once Felicita told them the name of the town that they would be having their game at, and looked pumped up.

I did noticed Eureka started to have an even colder, if that's possible, look now. "If you're committed to this plan, then I'll hunt the T95 myself. Effectively destroy enough of their tanks, and then according to most new teams, they'll rush the vanguard to support."

"I cannot condone one tank being sent to deal with the T95. You will go with the other Panzer II or not at all." Felicita tells her firmly. Eureka seemed unfazed by the statement.

"I'll take that offer, but can you truly handle this situation, if you fail, I cannot promise our success." She straightened her posture, with one hand still on the table.

Felicita looks at her with a look of dead coldness, "I assure you, we will catch them by surprise and rout them. It's the only way we have a shot."

"Then I will believe you, I rest my point at that." She quietly went back to her back seat and sat calmly.

Felicita returns to her normal demeanor, "Yuki, Komo, you will be bait. You will do everything in your power to aggravate the enemy and keep their attention, all the way until they're in our trap."

I can't help but giggle to myself at her choice of words. "Yes Ma'am. We'll give em hell until steam comes out of their ears and little red veins start bulging on their head. Right Komo?"

Komo just gives me a sideways glance and then looks forward again. "We'll do our job. I guarantee that if we won't lose because of us."

"And finally, Naomi, you and your crew are to demolish all bridges not leading directly into the town. I don't care what methods you use, explosives, cutting or burning, just get them down. Don't worry about how destructive you are, everything in the town is insured. If the opportunity to attack one of their tanks trying to cross or at the destroyed bridge arises, take it so long as you are not spotted."

"Can we not just weaken the bridges until the point they attempt to cross we drop them?"

"That works," Felicita says, "Like I said, as long as you successfully prevent any attempts by them to flank, then you are doing you job. Once you are done, loop back around to help us in the city."

"Okay, what tools do we have for the job again? We don't exactly get provided with demolition equipment everyday."

"Well, you have the tools on your vehicle. You can also use your welders, acetylene torches, and shaped charges that you use to help clean up damage on tanks."

"Shaped charges it is… Hehe."

A knock on the door interrupts any more comments from the rest of the commanders.

"Come in," Felicita calls.

The door opens and Carissa enters with a plate full of biscuits. "Hello, sorry to interrupt, but I thought 'a meeting isn't a meeting unless there's food' right?" She laughed at her own humor and put the plate down in the middle table, almost right in front of me. "Dig in everyone. They're garlic biscuits, and I added a hint of cheese."

Komo reluctantly reaches over and grabbs one. She bit into it and for just a brief second I thought I caught a smile on her face, certainly the closest I'd ever seen to one from her.

"Well, I'll be going now," Carissa announces. "Enjoy." Carissa skips out of the room, the happiest girl I'd ever seen in a meeting, even if she wasn't really part of it. I look over and for some reason Felicita has already scooped up five and has signs of having already ate some about her.

"Mmmmmff… anyfwayfs, I fink fat concfludes ouf mfeeting," Felicita says while chewing, swallowing a biscuit. She looks up at us as we stare at her blankly.

"What?"

"Did you just…" I speak up, "Did you just talk with your…."

Felicita realizes what I'm getting at and she blushes an adorable, luminous blush, a large lump traveling down her throat as she downs her current mouthful. "I… I… Well it doesn't matter, meeting is adjourned!"

Komo almost bolts out of the room. I couldn't quite understand why but she was covering her mouth. Is she lactose intolerant and the cheese making her react? That doesn't make sense though since Carissa said they had cheese in them. Was she not paying attention? Maggie meanwhile looked at Felicita and shook her head. "Well it's nice ta see ya loosening up there, Feli. Next thing ya know you'll be knocking back Drambuie with me and the other lasses in no time!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just remember everyone, stay on your guard. We do not know this enemy beyond what machines they have. Meaning we have no way of knowing how they will attack us. We can only hope they will play into our strategy."

**-Reni-**

The sounds of machinery and footsteps echo through our hangar as our team prepares to go to battle. This is our first time going to battle on the Fort Knox Junior Tankery Team, for all of us, but I'm not so sure about our chances. My driver Alexia agrees.

"These idiots would fall for chinese finger trap and genuinely be surprised!" Alexia groans. The girl is rather average, slightly short in stature, with a really thin figure, especially her torso which barely has any mass at all. In fact she actually lacks properly developed breasts at the moment, giving her a very flat chest.

Her hips are narrow, but her arms and legs are very toned with muscles as a result of her time on the track team. Her skin is a deep tan and her eyes a dark indigo. Her hair is short and boyish and is dyed a dark purple. Alexia is a bit of a reserved girl, despite the fact she's the absolute star of the track team. She talks a lot of about wanting a family once she's found her way in life but so far she's not been very forward with guys. Not for a lack of interest, but for someone with so much confidence in her ability to compete with others, she has a contrasting lack of ability to make friends.

"What is it Alexia?" I ask, trying to show genuine concern, which can only be done so many times in one day, and currently I'd had too many things to concern myself over. I hate bullies with a fiery passion, I don't like to throw insults, but this team has seriously made me reconsider my choice of taking tank classes.

"The Call of Douchey chicks want me to adjust the sensitivity on their tank controls to 14. I couldn't figure out how to tell them tanks are not a fucking Xbox!" She says, a little red faced.

Before I can answer, a rhythmic rattling catches my attention, and I can recognize it instantly. I turn my head to see a small girl, even shorter than Alexia, with sandy brown hair and golden eyes. Over her uniform she wore a belt with rattles at the hips and a pair of bagel sized bracelets on her wrists which also rattled with every movement of her arms. Each rattle was itself filled with rattles taken from different species rattlesnakes, so each rattle produced a different note. Additionally a pair or rattles hung from her ears like earrings. They were small so they whatever sounds they made was drowned out by the others.

Her name is Scutula Diamondback, my loader. A diligent girl and I never had a problem with her lack of vocal speech once I learned that her actions tended to speak for themselves. She's not very big but much stronger than she looks and she's a diligent girl. We call her 'Tula'.

She shook her hips making a loud, deep rattle that communicated her equal annoyance at the same group of girls that Alexia was irritated it. It had taken them a while to learn that she communicated mostly through her rattles and movements, speaking only when needed, and even longer to be able to understand what she was saying when she did so.

"Well at least we're the flag," Alexia remarks, looking over at our T95 parked nearby, which we had dubbed "Showboat" at our boyish drivers insistence. I liked it a lot actually, the aquatic theme struck a chord with me, being on the swim team and all.

"With all that armor, even if everyone else dies we'll have a shot."

Tula turned and shook her bum at us, illustrating a good point.

"She's right," Alexia nodded, "We'll have to keep our rear covered." She grinned and climbed up on top of the tank and patted my commander's 50 cal. "Luckily we have this bad boy to cover us from pesky light tanks. The main gun will deal with the rest. I can't wait to wring out the new driveline though." She rubs her hands together eagerly, and I giggle at her.

"Well with you on our team we won't lose for lack of commitment. Keep the spirit up Lexia, we'll push through," I encourage her.

Tula eye's darted to the right and then back at me and then starts to look ignorant. I wonder what's going on until she starts shaking her left bracelet, the lower note of the two, in a manner that eerily sounds like booming footsteps and then I realize what's going on, unfortunately just a little too late as I feel a pair of soft cushions press into my back and the warmth of a face next to mine as a pair of arms wrap around my middle.

"Mmmm morning Reni. You look pretty today." A soft cheeks nuzzles against mine. "Mmmm you're so warm."

"Hello Wilhelmina." I sigh, "You having a better day than the rest of us?"

The other girl yawns. "Dunno, sorta been sleeping. Sorry I'm so late. What's the problem, maybe I can help take some weight off your poor little shoulders." Just like that she starts massaging my shoulders, and I almost melt. Her fingers knead my muscles, plying them just in the right ways and I actually do feel some of the stress leave me.

"Mmmmm, thanks Mina, but I'm afraid the problem is more in my head," I sigh.

"She means our teammates are jackasses," Alexia clarifies.

Mina looks thoughtful and then a naughty grin spreads over her face. "Well maybe I can add a little softness to them by rubbing some of mine against them." She runs her hands over her body and it's hard not to look as she does it.

Mina isn't particularly tall, actually she's a bit on the short side, but she makes up for it in sheer bulk and in all the right places. Her breasts are always one of the first things anyone notices about her, they're huge and snuggled into her uniform they look like a pair of zeppelins trying to push out through the fabric, their unnatural firmness is an unexplained mystery, despite attempts by the school's tabloids.

Her body narrows a bit at the waist but it's not enough time before it widens again drastically in a pair of wide round hips and ample hind quarters which causes her skirt to flare quite a bit leaving little of her legs to the imagination. Her meaty thighs complete the shape of her hips and finally her rather adorable little feet somehow managed to keep her upright. She was basically every teenage boy's wet dream.

With her long, straight blonde hair going down to the small of her back and bright blue eyes she was every definition of a blonde bombshell, or as some tabloids called her 'The Atom Bombshell.' It was a mystery to most why she elected to join the tankery team of all things.

Tula grins and makes a pressing down motion while pushing her bum out, shaking it slightly.

Mina grins. "That's right. Use awkwardness to your advantage. Put pressure on them."

"I don't think they feel any pressure at all!" Alexia cries, "They aren't taking this seriously! Is this some kind of a game to them?"

"It kinda is a game Lexi," I point out to her.

"Well they aren't taking it like a serious game," the sporty girl retorts, 'They're being shitty casuals, like this is Call of Duty, Angry Birds, or Team Fortress."

"Some people are pretty hardcore when it comes to TF2," Mina reminded her. "Well I can't make them competent or make them take it seriously unless they want me as a kind of prize for winning, but I might be able to make them be a little more respectful. A little humility lesson."

Tula shook her right hand and then punched it forward, then added a shake of her hips for good measure.

"Mmmm I'm more psychological than physical when it comes to persuasion. Alexia, maybe you should just ignore them or if you can't do that, try to calmly dress them down. Raging just turns their ears off. If they still piss you off though, I can sit on them for you." She smirked.

"With you sitting on them they'd turn into pancakes. Yummy." Alexia remarks with a smirk.

A small gurgle and rumble echoes through their part of the hangar and Mina looks down. "Awww, why'd you have to say that Lexi? Now I'm hungry again."

Tula rolls her eyes and slowly swivels her hips and rubs her stomach slowly.

"I can't help it if I'm always hungry. I have a lot of me to feed you know." Mina hefts her breasts, her fingers sinking into their pillowy softness. "Milk doesn't come from nowhere you know."

Tula covers her chest with her arms and shakes her wrists.

"Hey I didn't cause that riot at the beach, and that was my biggest bikini… That I just happened to… Be a bit big for. Besides all those guys started the fight themselves."

Tula swiveled her hips in a slow sultry manner and brushed her hand across her forehead.

Mina grins and struck a pose. "Yeah, hot looks are a curse."

Tula rolls her eyes and makes a swelling motion with her hands around her head and then does the same at her chest.

"Hey, my tits are not made of ego!"

"Guys, we got incoming trouble," Alexia says, pointing to two girls we all know and hate approaching us. Both wore identical maroon vests and cranberry skirts, one with white short hair and the other with black short hair. Britanny and Whitanny, the team's spoiled brats, and unfortunately the commanders of the T29 heavy tanks.

"Hey, losers!" Whitanny, the black haired one called, "We, like, want to talk to you."

"Are you idiots looking in a mirror again?" Mina asks, Tula had to stifle a laugh, her face turning a little red.

The two nasty little girls scowl at us as they fail to understand her joke. "That joke was, like, lame and made no sense." Britanny, the white haired one scoffed.

"Well, I had to keep it that way so your tiny little brains could keep up." Tula was now forced to bury her face in Alexia's shoulder to keep from bursting out laughing. Alexia looks on with a satisfied smirk as Mina works the two brats over.

"We aren't going to, like, take shit from you, fat cow," Whitanny scoffs, "Anyways, stop trying to distract us from the point!"

"It's not my fault yappy little bitches can't keep focus- Oh look a squirrel!" Whitanny screamed and jumped into her sister's arms at the perception of the non-existent rodent. Britanny jumped reflexively too, and it took them about a full ten seconds to realize they had been duped.

"Hey! That was, like, not fucking funny!" Britanny curses at Mina. Of course by now Alexia is crying from holding back laughter and Tula is practically bursting with it into her shoulder.

Mina rolled her eyes. "You know, considering one of you is named 'Whit-anny', you two are awfully slow."

"Ugh, you know, if there was a squirrel, it could be dangerous. Someone could get rabies!" Whitanny protested.

"Enough of talking with these two. They aren't worth talking to," Britanny scoffs, "We'll have our lawyers deal with it. Have fun, like, getting sued bitches!" she says as they turn tail and leave.

Alexia immediately bursts out laughing uproariously, practically rolling around on top of the T95.

Mina chuckles and turned to her crewmates, holding her fatty jugs. "These two? Were they talking to my tits the whole time? I know they're big but I didn't realize they had the presence to be considered real people. They're gonna be mighty disappointed when they find out you can't sue boobs, especially if they're natural."

"Don't bet on it," Alexia says, climbing down off the T95. "I'm going to go check up with our TC to confirm we have no plan for the upcoming match. You girls can have a tea party while I'm gone." She says, heading off to the other side of the hangar. I look back over at Mina and Tula.

"Well, what are you girls up for? Maybe a tea party isn't such a bad idea," I suggest. It was apparent the environment we were in wasn't terribly pleasant, so I felt we needed to do something nice together, anything, to remind ourselves that we had eachother, that we were together as a team, if not the whole tankery team, our own little unit of it was at least united.

"So long as there's snacks I'm up for it," Mina agrees. "I'll bring the milk like always." She winks at me.

Tula smiles and shakes her hips in delight, eager for a diversion from the brats encounter, despite the laughs it gave her. I go to our tank and open up one of the bags hanging on the side and pull a medium sized cardboard box which has our tea sets in it. We'd stay positive, no matter what, and we would pull through. As a team. Our own little family inside our tracked bunker.

**-Alexia-**

One my way to the other side of the hangar I pass a montage of noobishness that is out team. Most of them aren't insufferable brats like Whitanny and Britanny, they're just new and they don't seem to want to learn. I avert my eyes as I pass by the brats' pink, bedazzled T29s. Someone needs to either totally strip them down and put them back into a respectable paint scheme or otherwise put them out of their misery. No tank deserves to be bedazzled.

Our 76mm Jumbo Shermans are next to them. They're known as Alamo and Fury. The former is actually one of our better teams, being Texans, they're more naturally adapted to shooting and driving large vehicles. They like to mess with everyone and convince them that Texans still ride horses, have shootouts at high noon, and everyone owns a cattle ranch. The best part is, more people believe them than not.

Fury is simply a bunch of girls who saw Fury, got hyped about tanks, and signed up for the tank team. Their tank is painted in homage to the titular Sherman, and I haven't had the heart to tell them Fury was an E8 not an E2 despite their proud claims their tank is authentic, down to the excessive amounts of unditching logs on the side.

Our 75mm Jumbos are called Faze Clan, Saratoga, and Big. Faze Clan is the other low point of our team aside from the bratty twins. They're a bunch of Dorito munching, Mountain Dew chugging, wannabe weed smoking, Call of Duty playing cunts who have claimed to have banged my Dad more than my Mom ever did. The other two teams are eager enough but they're overconfident, and haven't so much as taken a glance at the enemy teams forces.

Finally, at the other end of hangar we have our Supershings. One is simply called Midnight, and painted in a flat black all over. They dress in black trenchcoats and all wear black fedoras. At the moment they're sleeping, since they're all night owls who rise with the moon and go to bed with the sun. The other is of course our command tank. I spot our team commander and proceed over to make sure that there is indeed no plan to be had.

"Sharon! Yo Sharon!" I call over to her. She was more focused with the map she was holding that she was towards me. One hand holding it, the other on her chin.

Seeing as she seems focused, I need to break her focus, and the best way to do that is obvious. I kick her in the shin and take several steps back to avoid the incoming explosion. She quickly turns to me and raises her fist before realizing who I was. "Oh, Alexia, it's you…" Quickly glancing at her map and back at me, she cleared her voice. "If you were anyone else, I'd have to call a medivac, what is it?"

I smirk and shove my hands in my pockets. "What is our plan, oh glorious leader?" She looked at me with a look of confusion, like she expected me to know.

"I've discussed this with you, haven't I?"

"If you did would I be asking?" She sighs and points the map into my face.

"All the Shermans should be assaulting the city or at least securing it to have a foothold. Our T95 will remain with the T29s and provide a fallback point if anything goes wrong. Us and the other T26 will bypass the city go directly behind them. We lose more than four or five tanks, fall back to the T95."

"That's significantly less shitty than I expected," I remark, "Couldn't the T95 be better used a bit closer to the battlefield though? I've tuned it up so it won't be as slow."

"You want them to bumrush us and then surround the T95?"

"Exactly. They'll be so eager to get us, they'll totally forget about you guys!"

"..." She stared at me with great confusion and disappointment, so I shrug and turn away.

"Fine, be that way. Don't come crying to me when you all get swamped cause you don't have a distraction." I leave before she has time to respond. Besides, I was probably missing a kickass tea party back with my team. I need to get back to that.

**{Felicita}**

It's the day of the match, and we've gathered our tanks outside the town in a small park rented for us by the league, which we have moved all our provisions to. All our crews are out as we make the final preparations for our first match. For being up against such severe odds, morale is doing better than I had expected. Of course, nearby the students of our school who wish to view our fight have gathered on some bleachers set up in front of a large screen. For such a lopsided match, the turnout is rather high. They either are very proud of our school or have no idea of the odds we are up against. Given the number of students, I suspect it's a mix of the two.

All of our tanks have been repainted into practical camo. Yuki's BT-7 retains its dark green paint, which the Ram has taken to as well, but the once garish coloring of the Semovente is gone, replaced by US Navy measure 12 camouflage. The 14TP adopts a sort of dusty greyish blue hue, and our Panzer IIs have taken to a typical German grey. Finally, the Turan has adopted a grey base with a sort of light muddy brown on top if it in several large 'blobs'. Our own Stridsvagn has been painted in Swedish M90 camo.

We have also assigned call signs for our tanks to help streamline radio communication. The Panzer II Gs have been named Alopine and Vulpine, their crews seem to have a fondness for foxes. Fittingly, Alopine bears an Arctic Fox tail as its emblem, and Vulpine, a Red Fox tail. They also have our school's crest on the front of hull. The 14TP bears a golden, S shaped serpent on either side of the turret with red eyes and a red tail tip, our school crest on the front upper glacis, their callsign being Genie. The Semovente now goes by Saskatchewan Pirate, as I understand it is a reference to a humorous Western song. It bears the flag of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan on either side of the superstructure, but with a Jolly Roger replacing the coat of arms on the upper left and a sandwich impaled upon a ships mast replacing the flower. Their school crest is on the right side of the front superstructure.

The Turan has decided to stick with the name Cu Sith after the Scottish hellhound. As such, each side of the turret depicts the head of a satanic canine spewing fire. On the recoil spring, the part of the barrel which does not recoil, Cu Sith was written on it in black letters. The Ram has decided to forgo a logo, and has adopted the callsign Fornax. Yuki and his group have dubbed their BT-7 'Ghibli' and decorated their tank with a golden Caproni Ca.309 courier; an attack plane, with the plane's name in golden text above the tank. I had learned that Yuki is also an aviation enthusiast as well while dating him, and it comes as no surprise he would name a fast tank after an airplane. Behind the emblem towards the rear of the side of the turret on both sides was our school crest.

Finally, our Stridsvagn 74 has taken the name of one of my favorite generals of all time, Gustavus Adolphus. He invented modern warfare long before anyone else, and it wouldn't be until the 1940s that his brilliant vision for warfare would be fully realized. Our logo, on either side of the huge turret, is a cartoon depiction of the famous General atop a horse with his sword raised to the air. A Swedish Blue banner above him reads in Swedish Yellow text, "Der Lowe aus Mitternacht", and below it, in the same style and colors is another banner reading, "Gustavus Adolphus."

Of course we have also made sure our tanks were armed up as well as possible. That meant the distribution of ammo and fuel. Fuel wise there was nothing notable, though the BT-7 did get a little higher octane gas than everyone else to help give it a boost. Ammo wise, we stretched out ammo budget a bit and bought tungsten and subcaliber rounds for several of the tanks that could use it. Such ammunition is highly expensive, so it makes up less than 10% of our shell inventory. Our Strv, the BT, the Panzer IIs, and the Ram all have such ammunition assigned to them, and the 14TP is slated to receive some as soon as possible.

I am taking a walk around the motor pool we've established to check up on all the teams before we get going. Naomi's team is ready to go, and rigging the cleanup charges, normally used for blasting away destroyed pieces of a tank to clean it up for repair work, for remote detonation. Eureka and Flanders are inspecting the map, making sure to memorize all the important routes and potential dead ends in the city. A quick check with them informs me they are ready to go and all present.

The Naval studies girls seem to be a tad nervous, Milly calming Tilly down with encouraging words and head pats, and Dakota inspecting their machine and turning up good results. Komo is checking up on the 14TP, though Rei insists she's found it to be satisfactory at least three times today. Of course when I get to the BT-7, I am greeted with a hug and a loving kiss on the cheek for my troubles.

"Hey Feli," Yuki says to me as he pulls back from the kiss, "How's the last second checkup going?"

His affection having put me in a good mood, I try to apply some verbal affection to my response. "As wonderful as your eyes." I reply. Yuki blushes pink and shuffled a bit.

"Awww, you don't have to say that."

"But I do. The inspection and your eyes are both things I am finding to be most pleasant. I do however believe your eyes are much better suited to long term enjoyment, given this inspection will only be made once."

Yuki chuckles and gives me another hug, "Oh, only you could make flirting sound so formal. You're a lot better Feli, but you still have a lot to learn about relaxing."

I lean forward and whisper in his ear, "I'm in your care, teacher."

Yuki pats my back and lets go of me, "Yeah, yeah. Well just so you know our tank is in prime shape, everything is working nice and smooth. You don't have to worry about us."

I smile and nod at him, "Indeed. Carry on." I leave them to their business, heading to the next tank nearest to them, the Turan. They seem to have everything in order, but seem to lack a commander with which I can consult with.

"Ahem," I address them as I approach their tank, "Where is your commander? I believe I need to speak with her."

The girl who nearly ran over Yuki in her car, their driver, popped her head out of the hatch. "Oi, Tosh? Is Mags still asleep?"

"Last I saw of her was when we left." Their gunner shrugged and cracked her knuckles. "Had a rough night so I let 'er have a lie in a wee bit."

"Well the match is about to start in an hour and a half. Can any of you go get her out here?"

"We'd love to, but that lass can doze through a battalion of pipes playin' in her ears. Besides, Falk is still getting used to the interesting transmission, Sam is… Sam, and Brienne is making sure we got all the rounds we need."

"Fine," I turn around and head over to Yuki's group, "Yuki! Yunko! I must consript your services to retireve an absent crewmember!"

Yuki, already knowing Yunko does not handle my large vocabulary very well, translates for her. "One of our people is missing and we have to go help her get them." He explains to her.

"Oh… Uh okay then. Am I….. Going alone?"

"No you're going with us," Yuki pats her head, "We wouldn't feed you to the big bad Scottish girl on your own."

Yunko rubs her head. "Heh, thanks."

Five hours Later, we arrive at Maggie's dorm, and deciding that if she was as heavy of a sleeper as her team claimed there would be no use in knocking. Then again, my manners told me to knock anyways and so I do. No results obviously, so we make our way into the room. Right as we walk in, we see Maggie, and she is softly snoring away. She has her skirt on as well as her socks and even her boots, but she is only wearing a dark blue bra on top. Her hair is a mess, and her glasses are askew on her face. On the floor next to her is a large bottle with half of the golden liquid inside gone.

"Somebody had one hell of a night," Yuki whispers.

"I am open to suggestions as to how we will wake her," I tell the others.

Yunko grinned devilishly and held up her hands, wriggling her fingers. "I say we tickle her awake."

Without waiting for permission Yunko went down and held herself up over Maggie, straddling her legs and then started to gently tease the unconscious girl's belly button to see if there would be a reaction, and boy was there one. The redhead giggled and wrapped an arm around Yunko's head, smushing the poor girl into the large breasts of the other. "Knoockit awff Blondie." She groaned. "You wanna tickle me, ya already know where best ta do iiit."

Yunko's own endowments were pressed into Maggie's torso reducing the amount of space she had to work with to tickle her. But if she asked to be tickled she might as well do it, so she reached down to the girl's sides and started to tickle her again but using all her fingers. The Scotswoman continued to giggle, squirming around until finally her eyes cracked open.

"Arright, arright! Mercy, mercy!" She laughed.

Yunko giggles and stops. "Wakey wakey, Maggie waggie. Time to shoot stuff." She reached down and pinched the girl's cheeks like an old auntie. In return Maggie put her hand on Yunko's face and gently pushed her away, groaning as she sat up. As she did so, it became obvious that her bra wasn't fastened, as it hung loosely on her shoulders, exposing more of her freckled chest. Seeing her freckled chest, I question why I brought along Yuki, and why the idea of him seeing her much larger breasts makes me almost furious. I quickly shove him out of the room and pull Yunko away.

"Well first match is in an hour!" I call to her, "We'll see you then!"

"Mmmgh… Alright, I'll be ready by then. Hope I'm not too sore from last night."

As we exited the building Yunko pats my arm. "No need to worry Feli, and no need to be jealous. Yuki's seen my knockers out to play plenty of times." She lifted her arms as if to emphasize her bust and then winks at Yuki. "Aint that right?"

Yuki's cheeks turn a bit pink, "It's true. Growing up around girls makes it a lot easier to see past breast size. Once you've changed with 'em enough they're just a normal part of life you know? Don't worry Feli, I still love you how you are." He checks to make sure nobody else is in the hallway, and then kisses each of my small mammaries through the thin fabric of my uniform.

"A-ah, Yuki! Don't do that in public!" I protest. I had no problem with it in private but this was a bit much. Perhaps tanks got his hormones worked up? Oh well, hopefully he'll be able to keep his head clear for the fight ahead. Hopefully I could clear Yunko's incessant snickering from my head too.

As I get back to the park, I head to the last tank I have to inspect, my own. However before I reach it I see Dakota hop off the 75/46 and scramble towards me, as if she has urgent tidings to bear. She stops a few feet in front of me, swaying her braids in a nervous fashion and avoiding direct eye contact.

"Prez?" She asks softly.

"Yes Dakota?" I respond.

"I uh….my braids are acting up around you."

"Your braids are doing what?"

Dakota looks directly at me now as she begins to explain. "Okies, so sometimes when something is about to happen or someone has something different with them, my braids get all tingly and I hear them talk to me. They say you're different Feli."

"Different?" I tilt my head. What was this nonsense about talking braids she was going on about? There is no way her hair had any precognitive abilities!

Dakota bobs her head, "I can't place my finger on it, but my braids are saying something is going on with you. Perhaps….." She closes her eyes and holds her braids out at me like some sort of scanning device. "I sense a presence…...a presence I have not felt since….." She opens her eyes. "Are you cursed?"

I stand looking at her baffled and dumbfounded, "I am not cursed Dakota! There is no such thing as curses, it's childish superstition."

Dakota crosses her arms and frowns at me. "Awww come on Feli, no need to hide it. I've been cursed by vengeful RNG Gods more than once."

"I am not cursed Dakota!" I say to her, and leave before she spouts anymore nonsensical gibberish. Hopefully my own crew are doing well prepping the tank.

As it seems, when I get there my crew is just finishing buttoning it up after their own inspection. Ele was closing up the hatches and Illaria looks like she has just started on reading the map she has out. They both notice me approaching and Ele saunters over towards me with the confidence only a true champion or a fool could hope to have.

"We've checked everything, Gustav is ready to roll!" She gave me a thumbs up. I look over the tank, feeling a sense of pride. It was sort of a symbol of all I had accomplished, how far I had come. When I came to Sabaton, a tankery team this well funded and organized would have never happened. Now, I was the one leading it. And I knew that I was going to lead them to victory.

As I look at the tank though something seems absent from it. I can't place my finger on it and the irritation begins to show on my face. I sense another presence nearby and look over to see Illaria has noticed my discontent.

"Something the matter?" She asks me.

I sigh, "Something is missing don't you think? The tank needs a little… Extra something to complete it."

Illaria looks at the tank thoughtfully, taking it all in and seeing if this was true, a slow nod confirming her agreement. We both peer at the tank for a minute or so before Illaria's eyes brighten and she claps her hands together.

"I got it!" She runs off suddenly, without explanation and Ele looks at me dumbly.

"What just happened? Why were you two staring at the tank?" She asks, and I elect not to answer given I couldn't lay it out in simple terms for her. Illaria comes back with a paintbrush in one hand and Emmett in the other. Emmett in fact was the one who was responsible for painting all our logos, and he and Illaria said something between each other in a hushed tone before he took a paintbrush out and began dipping it into the can of golden paint she was holding for him.

"Alright then," He says as he goes to work, spelling out a familiar phrase on the rear side of the tank hull. He steps back and in beautiful, golden cursive letters, on the back of the tank, lies the words, "Augusta per Angusta."

He and Illaria head off to go put the paint away and I step back and take a look at the tank now. Now, it definitely was ready to fight. Ready to bring home victory.


	13. Chapter XIII- Screaming Eagles

**{Felicita}**

The match has begun, the teams have officially moved into the combat area, which has been sealed off by officials. Now but one formality lies between us and engaging in combat against the Americans. We must all gather in front of each other and exchange greetings. Tankery begins and ends with a bow, as the saying goes. So now we stand opposite them, each of our teams' tanks behind us. It's a lot more imposing to see such massive heavy vehicles opposite of our small collection of odd tanks, but at least I can't see anyone on our team being intimidated or having a sense of fear in their eyes.

Standing across from me is their commander, the one who goes by Sharon, clad in WW2 era tank clothing; standard American issue I assumed. Her long, black hair came out from under her tank cap which had goggles across it. Both her hands were in the pockets of her uniform jacket rather lazily. I step forward and go to greet her with a bow at the same time she extends her hand to give me a handshake and the result is her accidentally impacting my face, sending me reeling back from embarrassment.

"Apologies," I say as I recover and look at her, the two of us awkwardly looking at each other, unsure now of which greeting to use. She rubs the back of her neck and clears her voice, quietly as she can from what I heard.

"Are we doing it according to European standards or your standards?"

"Let's pay our respect to the host country," I reply, glad to be rid of that dreadful silence, "European it is."

"That's a handshake then." She puts out her hand once again, and this time I take it and give it a firm shake. I guess that a bow can come in many forms, the meaning of the gesture is still the same.

"I hope we can both experience armored combat with each other in an enjoyable fashion," I tell them.

"Yes, yes… An' um… Good luck out there." She turns and waves to me while walking back to her own tank.

"Alright everyone," I turn back to my own team, "Get to your vehicles, and be prepared to move out." I head back to my Strv, and just as I'm about to climb onto it, I feel a hand impede my climb. Looking down, it's Yuki, looking at me with an assuring smile.

"Good luck!" He wishes me, and I nod to him.

"Good luck to you as well," I say, giving him my best smile before I climb up onto my vehicle and I slide into the commander's hatch. Illaria slides into the driver's seat and begins tweaking the engine for startup. Ele lands in her seat with a thump and groans as she rubs her rear to alleviate the pain caused by her clumsy entrance. As we're almost ready to go, I hear some sort of American song coming from her and she slips her phone out of her pocket, and seeing the number her face turns to a grin and she answers.

"Hey babe."

**{Ele}**

"_Oh, uh, hey Ele,_" Shaun greets me, his voice lovely as the call of a swan. I think. I have never seen or heard a swan in real life before, but I have heard people compare people they find attractive to swans, so it follows logically it's a good comparison.

"_I just ah… Just wanted to say good luck out there_."

"Oh Shaun sweetheart," I reply back, "You really are a gem. I'll keep you in mind when I'm ramming shells into the gun on their way to destroy, crush and obliterate our foes. Good luck wuvvy bunny."

"_Wuvvy bunny? Never thought I'd be hearing you say that, but ok. Come back with their heads on pikes you beautiful Amazonian._"

"You know I will," I say, "Seeya at the after party." I hang up and put my phone back into my pocket. If I wasn't pumped to blast these Yanks back to Kansas before, I sure as hell am now. My man needed me to crush them mercilessly. A mouse can crush an Elephant if the mouse works out, follows a kickass diet plan and gets super buff and ripped, and we were the mouse to squish their elephant! Our engine roars to life and we're off to the starting point.

**-Alexia-**

After we exchange greetings, it's back into the tanks for us. Reni, our commander, gathers us all up in a circle atop of our steel fortress, and we hold each other's hands as she speaks.

"Now girls, I know this is our first battle. I'm scared too, but this is gonna be hard. We gotta stick together and look out for eachother," she tells us. We all knew this, but she had this way of making it seem calming coming from her, like a mother assuring her young. "And no matter what, we put each other before victory. Friends before trophies."

As someone who loves, lives and breathes sports, Reni's emphasis of friends over the win ran a bit contrary to my instincts, but I understood where she was coming from. Friends are hard to make, and I wasn't gonna waste them on a high school sports tourney.

"Now, I want a nice loud, "To Victory" on three," Reni smiles. Just cause we aren't obsessed with winning doesn't mean we don't have a healthy appetite. We put our hands in the center of our circle and Reni counts, "One, two, three," and we all cry, "To victory!" With our fists lunged skywards.

Then comes getting in the tank. Me and Tula have the easiest time of it. I'm as thin as a toothpick so I fit right in, and Tula gets in so smoothly it's almost surreal, like some unseen force pulls her into the tank and gently seats her. Reni is a bit clumsy about it, she never was a ballerina on land, but she manages. Mina, however, isn't doing so hot.

Her legs slip in just fine but what those famously smooth legs are connected to doesn't. Her wide birthing hips and blubbery rump make getting in further much harder. Honestly she's just too… Well proportioned for the tight spaces of a tank. Those curves could stop any sports team but they also stop her from fitting well through the hatches.

Mina manages to squeeze her hips through. Now is the hardest part, and she simply stops, unable to fall anymore, her legs dangling helplessly.

"Uh…. A little help please. My boobs won't fit through. Again."

Tula sighs and grabs a plunger from where a personal weapon would have been mounted normally, then climbs outside to assist.

"It's a good thing those knockers are good at attracting mates, Mina," I remark, "I'd hate to think your woes of getting into tanks didn't have an upside."

"Is that a fat joke?" She asks. "I'm not fat, I just have a lot of it in all the right places."

I can hear Tula shaking her rattles again and Mina huffs. "No I didn't, I had a light breakfast." A skeptical rattle from Tula. "Yes, it was light. I only had two omelettes, half a package of sausages and half a package of bacon."

Tula puts the plunger down on Mina's head and then starts to force her down through the hatch like a fat turd down a toilet drain, until she finally squeezes in, landing in an awkward heap inside.

"Oh that's a perfectly okay breakfast," I remark as I start the engine, "You just never burn it off like you should."

Reni sighs, "Alexia, it's her body, she can make it as big or small as she pleases." She pauses then adds, "But while we are in tankery, it would be nice if you curbed your eating habits, or at least exercise some."

"Hey, I said I had a light breakfast didn't I? Besides, I'm not too big, the hatches in this thing are too small."

Tula plopped back down and shook her hips, emitting a low rattle as she replaced the plunger.

"Because I didn't want to end up with all the derp teams out there, that's why I became part of this team. Besides, you girls are my friends. Well... Now anyway." She sits down in the gunner's position but her generous rear makes the seat look too small. She really isn't built for this sort of thing.

"We're about to move out, is everyone seated?" Reni asks. We all give a positive response, though the term seated only applies halfway to Mina. The rest of us can actually fit our entire bums into the seat after all.

"Alright, got the word from command, we're moving out." Reni tells us, and I put the tank into gear and follow her instructions, driving us off to the fight.

**{Felicita}**

We arrive at our starting point, just a little ways north of Arnhem itself. The tanks idle and we now await the signal to start. I see a large dirigible airship cruise over the battlefield, and its speakers blare a marching musical piece before the countdown begins.

"Match begins in thirty seconds. Twenty-Nine, Twenty-Eight…."

As we await the initiation of the match, Illaria turns around in her seat and smiles up at me.

"Just wanted to let you know Felicita, that I'm as proud and happy to be here as you. And that we'll do everything we can to help you kick these Yanks to the curb," she says, even now her voice lively yet calm.

I try to give her my best smile back, though I cannot be sure of the quality, as my smile output had only begun recently. "Thank you Illaria. I am grateful for such a dedicated crew to fight with me."

Illaria looks at me closely, and begins to peer at me closely. "Felicita, is there something wrong with your eyes?"

I blink and then rub them. They are a little sore and her bringing it up has only reminded me, "It's… It's nothing. They're minorly irritated is all."

"Looks more like rings under them to me," Illaria says, and I sigh and take a deep breath. It was a lot harder fooling Illaria than Ele. "Have you not been sleeping?"

"I woke up at 0400 hours this morning," I admit, "While I do not have an exact cause deduced, I believe that it might be related to the stress and hormones brought out by my captaining of the tankery team." And the intimacy me and Yuki partake in as lovers. That probably contributed to the hormones as well.

Illaria looks me over, almost suspicious. "Well… Don't go overburdening yourself Feli. If you ever need someone to talk to outside your student council, we're always here to listen."

I sigh and nod at her silently. The counter is down into the single digits now.

"Three… Two… One… Match Begin!" Came the announcement at full volume. Our tanks engines rev up and I give the command to move out.

"Framat! All tanks forward!"

Our tanks begin to roll out and head into the town. We're on the north side, meaning we have more urban areas to hide and seek in, whilst the enemy gets the south side, which has plenty of places to dig in while also being more open. Now it was time to enact our plan.

"Fornax, get to the bridges and put them out of order," I order, "Geni, Ghibli, go cause the enemy the most severe of irritation!"

"Roger that Gustavus," Yuki replies.

"Genie is going" Komo responds.

"Forward ho!" Naomi expressively yells out.

"Everyone else on me," I order, "We'll set up the city and make quick work of our foes." Hopefully. I have less faith in our plan then I'd like, but it is what it is. We're outgunned, outnumbered and we have no idea how skilled our enemy is. All we can hope for is luck and our crews to do their best.

**#Naomi#**

"Set the bloody fuses already! We can't stay here for long." So we're assigned with blowing up a bridge. No one told me it was a pretty long bridge, estimate about six meters across, probably twenty to thirty meters long.

"Shush! I can't work with your yacking in my ear!" Haruka snaps back at me, grinding her teeth. You can't blame her, but you can't blame me either, it's a divided situation. For god's sake, we have to blow this bridge using demolition, not even proper ones, we had ones that were used for engineering work.

All it takes is the right explosives in the right positions, hitting the right supports, causing the right amount of damage, to weaken the bridge the right amount to collapse the right way when they crossed. That's six too many rights to account for in the limited amount of time that we have.

Me and Haruka have our side of the bridge to rig, Hiyori and Koyomi have the American side to handle. Misaki has us covered, taking the turret as both gunner and loader, it was only a two pound round in the first place.

"Fine, have it your way, I'll check on the charges placed center." I stand up from my crouched position, I can feel my knees cracking on the way. Walking over to the center portion of the bridge, I count the charges.

There was just enough to cause at least the structural integrity of the bridge to fall under if anything larger than a M4 Sherman crossed, that took out their Jumbos, heavies and maybe even the Shermans if we were lucky.

I looked over into the horizon, Hiyori give me the thumbs up from her side, and I signalled her back in response. This was the cue to make our escape now, nice and easy over to the American side, then blow the charges.

The four of us rushed over our Ram, time was of the essence, there was no telling when they could come. Misaki scooted over to the side as we funneled through the turret hatch, Haruka taking her side next to her. Koyomi sat in her operator seat as always and Hiyori to the driver's.

I remain in the turret hatch, keeping the tank unbuttoned for now. Hiyori brings us up to speed, from our side to theirs. The plan is actually quite simple if you put in on paper to be honest. Rig and blow the bridge, then retreat via the Railroad bridge north of Elden.

It's a long drive from here to Elden, we're just south of Renkum, we'd have to pass by Heteren, might run into campers there. Then it was eastbound, through Driel and northeast to Elden. Hopefully, the railroad wasn't blocked already, otherwise, we'd have to risk it and take the bridge northwest of Huissen, pretty close to the enemy's starting position.

But for now, I just enjoy the breeze, it's nice to be out in the open. Once this was over, it was back to hell on that ship. I don't like it there, too annoying to deal with other people's shit, usually didn't go too well for me in the first place.

We had just passed into Heteren and onto a hill, where I could see the bridge from here. Now it was up to chance if the explosives would work or not, hopefully it would. "Haruka, detonate in three…" I stared through my field glasses with content, "two…" come on...work…" one!"

It wasn't even a loud boom, Haruka had remotely detonated the charges, all it did was produce a light 'bang' and puffs of smoke. But I examined the damage myself, mainly just the supports of the bridge. It had appeared that at least 80% of the explosives managed to take out their targeted supports.

That put the weight limit of M4 Sherman up to about maybe the E2 Jumbo variant. I wasn't sure about the exact amount of weight it could hold now. But there was no time, it was onwards from Heteren to Driel, a lot of distance in between.

Even though I didn't want to, I rang up the radio onto Felicita's channel. Had to report the whole situation to her, that kind of stuff.

A moment passed and the radio was answered, though not by Feli.

"Uh, yo, Feli's kinda of directing us camouflaging our tanks and shit. Can I take a message?"

"Who is this exactly?" Who knows, could be some American asking for tactical information, gotta make sure my hard work doesn't go unpaid. That would bring an end to my good days, first the tank and now a bridge.

"This is Ele! My weight lift record is 85 kilograms, I like American and Swedish Rock n' Roll, I prefer my dicks thick but not too long, and my favorite color is red!"

"..." Sure, okay, now share me the password to your computer and we'll have a nice outcome from this. "Right, the bridge located… At…" Wait, what was that, it looked like olive green, it couldn't be, not yet. "At… At… At Elden has been crippled and… and…"

"Uh are you alright? You sound like ya seen a ghost. A really spooky ghost. You guys need salt or something?" Yeah, a real spooky ghost indeed, and by spooky ghost I mean American Tanks! It looked like the Super Pershings I saw from the briefing, had they gone this far to flank us!?

"We have two heavy tanks located just west of Driel, and we aren't going to make it past them."

"Oh uh… That sounds important. Yeah I'll get you the BWOC, hold a sec," There was a loud clunk in my ear as she dropped the earpiece without turning the radio off, and soon enough the Presidents voice came through.

"Naomi, where are you, and which heavy tanks have you spotted?"

"West of Driel and two Sup-" They opened fire on us, both of them side-by-side. "Eek!" The shell just barely grazed the turret of our tank. It shocked me so much, big shocker there, that I dropped the radio receiver to the floor of the tank.

"Naomi? Naomi are you still there?" Felicita's voice comes frantically through the radio. Calm yourself mate, stop with the fake concern. You and I both know that you kinda despise me to be honest. The radio was way too far down on the floor to reach, I nudged Haruka with my foot to pick it up.

By then, the heavies fire at us again, one of the shots impacting the ground in front of us. Okay, I may act tough, according to my friends. But tell me you wouldn't be pissing yourself at a 90mm shell blowing dirt into your face. "Hiyori, try your hardest to get us into Driel, we can hide there!" I shouted down into the crew compartment.

**[Yuki]**

I peer through my binoculars at the heavy tanks guarding the East bridge at Arnhem. Looks like we were hunting big game, two shiny, gem encrusted, pink T-29s. A sore sight for any eyes for sure, but it was what it was nonetheless. The two bright colored heavy tanks sat directly in the middle of the bridge, the notorious bridge immortalized by the Allies failed attempt to cross it. I pick up my radio and tune it until I get a clear signal, calling to Komo at the West Bridge.

"Komo, I got two T-29s on my bridge, what do you have on yours?"

"Shermans," she responded, "They don't seem interested in us. We haven't exchanged shots but that's all. They're dug in on the other side."

"Well then let's make 'em interested," I reply, switching the channel to the entire team, "This is Ghibli, we are opening fire."

"Genie, commencing attack!"

I turn the radio off and tap Hikari's shoulder. "Let's open up on the one on the left. Fire until they do something, this tank has plenty of ammo."

Hikari shrugs. "Okay, but if I had their armour, I wouldn't be super concerned about a gnat like us that could pull us into a trap." She aimed and fired, her shot pinging off the turret front of the T-29 harmlessly. The huge turret turns slowly towards us, and I order Yunko to go full reverse, just in time to avoid the 105mm shell landing where our tank had been, making a massive explosion that rocked our tank. There is another shell from the second tank, but it misses wildly, flying down the street leading to the bridge and taking out a building far down the road. Hikari was particularly shaken by it.

"We're suppose to fight that? How are we supposed to make them take us seriously?"

Even though my ears are ringing from the massive blast I manage to make out what she's saying, as well as the rapid fire blasts of 76mm guns in the distance, indicating the 14TP had drawn similar aggro.

"I don't know but we gotta try!" I yell, "Yunko, their reload time is gonna be slow, so let's take advantage of that and make a high speed run at them before firing, then retreat back to cover!"

"You want us to cross the bridge?"

"No, just get us onto the bridge, make em think we're seriously gonna try something!"

Yunko shifted the BT-7 forward and slipped onto the bridge stopped just as the entire tank was on it. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"What she said." Hikari says, jabbing me in the arm. I grunt, but I can't afford to be sensitive right now, not in tankery.

"Fire!" I order, and our little cannon spurts a shell at the left T-29 yet again, bounding off the front glacis. The T-29s barrels are trained on us, almost as if they are angry they aren't ready to fire yet.

"Yunko, get us back to cover!"

The tank surges backwards and makes a sharp reversal towards our previous cover just as another pair of shells comes at us. One misses by about ten meters, while the other is so poorly aimed it hits a truss on the very bridge they are on. I breathe a sigh of relief as the tank idles back down once we're in cover.

"I don't think they want to move." I huff

"Maybe we can make them run out of ammo" Yunko jokes.

"I'd rather not get shot at by those things" Hikari says. "They could send us to the moon if they hit."

"Yeah, and I never wanted to be an astronaut that desperately," I chuckled weakly, slumping back in my seat as I think. There has to be a way to root them out. Some trigger on them that would get them to move. I think back to all the lessons Felicita taught me, there had to be one applicable here. My mind runs the dozens of lessons through my head until one in particular seems to glow like a lightbulb. It was a follow up on the writing a letter in the rain lesson, but this one had been about how personal attacks could be used to make people say and do things they wouldn't normally. Of course the goal was more to help me repel those sorts of personal attacks but now I began to think of a new application for it.

"Hikari, load some HE rounds, and use the machinegun next time." I order.

She looks at me dumbly. "The machine gun? Really? What are you trying to have us do, tickle them to death?"

"No, we're gonna scratch the paint. Badly," I grin, "Yunko, on my order pop out. Hikari, be ready to open up on them."

"Aye aye," Yunko responds. Hikari just shrugs, not really getting it but she was willing to try, moving awkwardly to load an HE round.

"Ready?" I ask one last time, then tap Yunko's shoulder with my foot, "Yunko, go!"

The tank bolts out of cover, and as soon as the tank settles Hikari opens up, the cannon thumping and the machine gun chattering. As soon as the barrage is finished, we manage to avoid another poorly aimed volley, and when I look at the T-29s again, this time, they're moving, the front paint heavily worn down by High Explosives and bullets.

"I knew anyone vain and dumb enough to bedazzle a tank wouldn't like it if we started tearing up their paint." I grin.

"If you ask me, we improved it." Hikari smirks.

"Even with how little I can see, those things stand out like tomatoes in a cucumber jar," Yunko comments.

"Now that we have 'em angry, let's get in the back streets and we'll make quick work of them Kelly's Heroes style." I say with vigor, "Yunko, take us into the alleys, and Hikari, make sure they know where we're going."

"We'll use the HE rounds and save the AP for real opportunities."

Yunko quickly retreated, sparks flying from under the tracks as they spun and made their escape, ducking into an alley just before another barrage demolishes a building near us. I pick up my radio and report to Felicita.

"Felicita, we've got the T-29s right where we want them," I tell her, "We'll call you once we're done. Yeah, love you too, over and out."

**-Sharon-**

"THEY DID WHAT?!" I slam my fist down onto the roof of my Super Pershing as soon as I hear the news. Those idiot airheads abandoned the T95 to chase a light tank because they 'scratched their paint'. I swear, I'm going to kick those bimbos' ass when we're done with this match.

"C-Calm down Sharon." Our loader, Marina tries to calm me down the best she can. But those dumbfucks are going to get it this time. "Shermans, you keep your asses tight on that bridge, both of them." The only threat I've seen was that Canuck that passed by a while ago, but all they are going to do is ping off of us.

"Fine, keep us going, we'll be reaching Heteran soon enough." Both of our tanks cross from Driel to Heteran, leaving the Ram alone for now. What could they do to harm us anyways? Either way, we make quick speed, and we were just north the town before setting up to see if they were around the bridge.

**{Felicita}**

With the T-29s off the bridge, all we needed now to totally undo their defensive line was to uproot their Shermans. I pick up my radio and send a call out to Komo and Rei to check on the status they were at at accomplishing this task.

"Genie, are you receiving me, over?"

"Yes we hear you" Komo replies.

"What is your status?" I ask her, "Have you got the enemy to abandon their fortified position?"

"No, they're staying put. They seem to like where they are. If we don't dislodge them soon they'll be setting up tents. They're practically ignoring us, after the opening volley we seemed to just drop off their radar." Komo sounded more than a little displeased with the situation.

"Their entrenchment is that cemented? Continue to observe them, but cease fire for now." I order them.

I don't actually hear Komo sigh but somehow I felt it. "Fine, we're just wasting ammo on them anyway. Genie out."

I hang up the radio receiver and pause to think for a moment. They still had a major bridge locked down, and with the Shermans so close to the second vital bridge, even the one we'd freed up wasn't truly open quite yet. I needed to look for other pathways, some way to strike at them without getting into a head on fight we couldn't sustain. I pull out the map and check it. The bridge at Renkum was marked off, I had good word from Naomi that the bridge had been critically compromised and had marked it off as such. The bridges leading into town I couldn't count on. They still had the T95 somewhere and if we got held up by it while the rest of their team was still around, they'd certainly swarm us before we were able to breech it's armor. We needed to destroy at least their Shermans or their Super Pershings before even considering an assault on their flag, and to do that, we need to flank. As I view the map, I notice that there is a railroad bridge, at Elden. Outside the reach of the forces in the town, but close enough we could reach them swiftly once we crossed. I pick up my radio and contact Naomi.

"Team Fornax this is Gustavus, pick up."

"U-uh… Yes this is Naomi… Speaking…" She sounded far away from what her usual voice and demeanor would be like.

"Naomi? Is there an issue?"

"Aside from the fact we're behind enemy lines, there's big tanks with big guns and armor, as well as the fact we have a pew gun, no."

"Well you knew that was going to happen going into this mission," I reply. I want to be more empathetic, both Yuki and "the art of war" seem to indicate strong bonds with those you lead make your leadership more functional. At the moment I don't have time for empathy, only action.

"So, is there an enemy presence at the Elden bridge?"

"We're in Driel, mid-transit to Elden."

"Last you saw, were there enemies fortified at Elden?"

"I think the Super Pershings are long gone, they should find our surprise at the bridge soon."

"Alright then, prepare to have some company. Gustavus, out." I hang up and send a transmission to the rest of the team.

"Everyone, I know we have recently set up our urban camouflage in anticipation of an ambush, but due to a change in the circumstances of the battle, I have elected to alter our plan to a flanking maneuver instead. Everyone, dispense of the urban concealment and prepare to move out!"

There is some groaning and bemoaning about bringing down our recently erected disguises but the operation goes without any problems, and I give Illaria the order to move out, and we head off to make the crossing at Elden.

**-Sharon-**

We started to advance on the bridge, some point in the way there, I decided it would just be better if we just advanced on the bridge. All we needed was to just break through, and we're scott-free to wreak havoc.

We parked ourselves just about five feet from the bridge, we haven't gotten shot at yet. Yet, I couldn't promise that those Canucks didn't tamper with it. Well, there was only one way that we could figure that out. "Nora…"

"Gah," Comes back the voice, sounding as much like the voiceover from a shitty noir movie as any teen girl might muster, "The name's Spades Slick okay? Geez Sharon, you're sappin the joy right outta this aren't yas?"

"Nora… Go across the bridge for us, only your tank."

"Gah, fine, fine," She grumbles and hangs up, and the flat black Super Pershing rolls in front of us and onto the bridge. About halfway to the middle of the bridge there's a loud, metallic shearing noise and I can see the bridge shudder downwards.

"Ah shit Sharon, they got this thing rigged. Shit, shit, shit, shit." Interesting… I rub my chin and take a look at the bridge. There wasn't any damage in the actual road itself, but the supports. That's probably what's wrong with it at the moment, they blew the supports.

"Right um… You might be screwed but um… There's still a chance you can make it back, just don't exceed a speed more than… I dunno… Cruising speed?"

"Alright alright," Nora replies, and the Midnight rolls on back slowly, the bridge seeming to have a bit of wobble to it now. Somehow, almost disappointingly, they manage to slip off the bridge without falling to their deaths.

"Fuck, I think those Japs are tryin ta kill us." Nora curses.

"No, no, your driver was shit, that's what, seriously, it was five meters to get back here."

"I'd like ta see ya driver get across that fuckin death trap!"

"Hehehehehe… Um… How's that heart rate doing there eh? Not so well? Um… Hey we're going to go…"

"Yeah, no use sticking around talkin. Where to now boss?"

"Well, let's head back up to south Arnhem, see if we can't just break through their defenses."

"Aye," Nora replies, the Black Pershing falling into formation behind us. Oh poo, one part of me wanted me to see them fall. Oh well, it was going to be one long and dreadful drive back to Arnhem, I guess.

**{Felicita}**

Our engine comes to an idle as Illaria puts the tank in park. We've arrived at the railroad bridge of Elden. The trains have been shut down for the match of course, so the only risk in crossing is enemy fire. To that end, I have ordered our main forces to stay in concealed positions, while I call up Eureka to scout the bridge out. The small grey tank passes by us and heads onto the bridge, traversing it without drawing any sort of fire. Once she is at the other end I contact her.

"Team Vulpine, have you made visual contact with enemy forces, or are they absent?"

"Yeah no, I don't think I see any… thing… I mean...there's… no one out here…"

"IS that…." I listen closely to her transmission and detect audible munching, "Are you eating?"

"N-no, I'm er… tactically making noise."

Normally I'd be a bit irked at the unprofessionalism of eating while in the middle of important maneuvers, but right now for some reason I just feel jealous. It isn't the time to think about food however, and I toss those thoughts from my mind.

"Well has your tactical noise making drawn out any enemies?"

"Y-yes! My crew wants some of these Rice Crackers… um… send the other tanks over, we're good for now."

I sigh and switch the channel. "Pirate, Cu Sith, Alopine, follow behind us. Genie, prepare to come across when we engage!"

"Aye aye Admiral!" Dakota replies.

"Sure thing…" Flanders groaned.

"Roger," Sam professionally responds.

"Genie is ready," Komo responds. She actually sounds more energetic this time. I guess she's getting pumped up too, or she's just tired of inaction.

"Illaria! Full speed ahead!" I order, and we come out from the cover of the train station and onto the tracks, the tank rocking as she positions it for a stable drive across. The others file in behind us and we accelerate to full speed, crossing the bridge swiftly and heading on our way to the West Arnhem bridge where the Shermans are. We pass swiftly through the streets and arrive at the South end of the West Arnhem bridge. The Shermans are all there, and none of them are facing us. All of them seem directed towards the North end of the bridge, about 50 meters away. I don't hesitate, I seize the opportunity and slip into the gunners seat, Illaria bringing the tank to a quick stop. I set my sights on the nearest Sherman, a Jumbo 76 with depictions of chips, soda and marijuana leaves adorning it, and I tell Ele to give the order.

"OPEN FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!"

My hand closes around the trigger as she says that, but in the split second before I fire, I register a sharp, painful sensation in my abdomen. It seems I am suffering cramps in my stomach, and it's enough that I collide with the lateral controls for the gun, throwing my shot off. I hear gunfire outside our tank, the others have opened up. I manage to recover and look through my scope to see the target turning to face us. I hear the breech close and I take another shot into their side armor, this one going through and taking the tank out. I look through my cupola to survey the situation now and it seems another Sherman has gone up in smoke, with another being detracked.

The Turan races ahead of us to engage the Shermans at point blank range, getting into a hard fought turning fight with a short barreled Jumbo and winning by destroying their track to allow them to circle around and get at their rear. The surviving Jumbo 76 has turned to face us, its front painted with a red white and blue flag, but with only one red and one white stripe and only one star. We open fire at it but our shots fail to breach it's armor. Our tanks begin to back up towards cover. We'd lost the initiative and now they had their nigh impregnable armor facing us. Just then Genie comes over the bridge at full speed, and they fire several shots into the vehicles rear, knocking it out of the fight.

The sole remaining Sherman attempts to turn tail and flee, but is quickly dispatched by a shot from the Semovente. The radio explodes with cheers and cries of victory. We'd done it. We'd scored a clear and decisive victory! A swift attack on the flag tank was all that was needed now.

"Vulpine, Alopine, go dispatch the T95!" I order, "The rest of us will engage the Super Pershings."

"Tally ho…" Eureka rounded up Flander's tank and they started off towards the south, hopefully being able to catch them off guard. I gather everyone else up and head towards Driel. If the Super Pershings weren't in the river, they'd be headed back towards Arnhem. I freely admit to myself that my heart is pounding with excitement, that I feel euphoric. We were winning, and now it seemed that we held the cards, that we were on our way to bringing home the win.

**-Sharon-**

Good god, we're gone for about a half hour and the whole defense line goes to shite. Every single one of the Shermans: Alamo, Saratoga, Fury, Faze and others I couldn't bring to mind, all wiped out. All I could do was hope that between our steel titans remaining, we could encircle and trap that. "Okay, here's the plan, we'll have to head east, set up there and take out any tank that attempts to cross from Arnhem, you got that Nora?"

"If they've offed our Shermans I think they'll have crossed long before we get there," Nora points out. There was no chance we could ever catch up to them anyways, I'm not even going to start with the situation the T29s were in either.

"Okay… It's up to us, we'll straightout Blitzkrieg them, break their line, right out and take them out." It was extremely risky, but we had no other choice, if our T95 could properly set up, we could just survive.

**-Reni-**

I fidget in my commanders seat as we sit in our vehicle. We've been sitting like this for what feels like an eternity. Even with all the talk of our line crumbling, we were still told to stay put where we were. I always try to stay calm and positive, but this boredom is getting to me. Alexia brought along a small handheld game and is getting into it rather seriously. Mina is trying her best to liven things up with some friendly small talk.

"Look, all I'm saying is that people think I don't put any effort into relationships because I have a smoking hot body. That's not true. I was making crotch tents way before I got these curves."

I can almost hear Tula rolling her eyes at that. Tula is Mina's closest friend as far as I know but the way the interacted sometimes you might never have known.

"Sex appeal isn't just about your body, it's about the personality you give it." Mina went on. "Trust me, I know these things."

"Yes, yes we get it, you were a total vixen since grade school," Alexia replies, rather irritated, though I can't tell whether it's more Mina or her game, "God dammit… Motherfucker… How did he pass me? HOW?!"

Now it was Mina's turn to roll her eyes. "We're in one of the slowest tanks of all time. How could something not pass us?"

"I'm talking about the game Mina!" Alexia growls, then lets out a defeated sigh as a game over noise plays, recognizable to even someone like me who never played games all too often.

"Alexia, try to remain calm. I know this isn't that you hoped for, but we have to make the best of it," I say, trying to keep the brash tomboy reigned in a little.

Tula for her part had remained almost totally silent, her rattles almost useless for communication over the noise of the tank and whatever combat we were in so she hasn't bothered to use them. We hadn't expected to be idle so long.

Perhaps the reason she hadn't done anything to silence Mina's rantings was probably because they distracted those of us who didn't have video games to play to distract us from the boredom or the events happening outside our steel cocoon.

Mina fidgeted in her seat, an almost constant habit and I could only imagine how uncomfortable it was for her.

"They couldn't have been this skinny could they?" she murmured, almost too quiet for anyone to hear.

Tula smirked and prodded that larger girl in the side of her plush tush, eliciting a small "eep" from the blonde.

"I don't have a fat ass Tula. It's firm and round and only jiggles enough to grab attention."

"Does your ego know any bounds?" Alexia huffs. I was about to say something to her, but something else catches my ear. Tank motors, and not ours either. Far too high pitched. Knowing that our defensive line was basically nothing by this point, I am certain we'll see the enemy soon.

"Everyone, we got incoming!" I yell. The engine roars to life and I hear Alexia yell, "Awwwww, hell yeah! Let's turn this battle around!"

I remain halfway outside my commanders cupola, scanning for enemy tanks. I try to listen to the engine sounds, try to determine where they came from. Normally I'd be good at it but in this city the sound seems to come from everywhere. Suddenly I spot a grey blur dart out of a street to our left. A Panzer II. I order the tank to turn but I already know that we won't be able to outpace them circling us. I know what they're up to and I react quickly, grabbing ahold of the commander's .50 cal M2 machine gun. I give a hefty grunt and I pull the bolt back and let it slam forward with a wonderfully satisfying noise. I brace myself against the cupola ring to stabilize myself against the recoil and I let loose with a torrent of .50 caliber lead into the Panzer II, the huge machine gun making a deafening and yet wonderful mechanical, metallic sort of loud whumping as I tried to keep the sight ahead of the Panzer II. I let off briefly to see my results and witnessed the Panzer II riddled with machine gun holes and belching smoke with a white flag popped up, which seemed to have at least 2 holes from my machinegun fire in it as well.

We're turned towards the direction they're coming from now and I see another grey blur coming towards us from another street.

"Mina, make this shot count! If you miss I'll get 'em with the 50!"

"Well I'll try to save you the trouble." She calls back. There's a pause and then the mighty machine jolts as it's main gun fires with a huge bang, filling our vision with smoke. If I knew Mina and Tula well enough, that had been a high explosive round they had fired. There's another pause, this one marked by our ears ringing, and ended by the enemy's Panzer II sliding out from the smoke on it's side, the white flag sticking out.

"Ha, got em!" Mina cheered. "Find me something else to shoot at!" Tula loads another HE round and taps Mina on the back to let her know her gun it ready to fire once again.

"Haha!" Alexia is ecstatic too, her mood having undergone a 180 degree turnaround, "I was wrong about you Mina! You are not just a cow! You're a cow who can kick ass!"

Any other girl would have been absolutely pissed about being called a cow, but Mina being the girl she is and how she looks, she sees it as more of a neutral comment. Neither an insult or compliment, at least not in this case.

"Why thank you. Now let's kick some more ass!"

Seeing as my crew is eager, I don't think staying put any longer will help our situation. We have momentum, and we need to ride it.

"Alexia, take us southwest," I say, and our doom turtle begins to pivot, the engine revving up as we do so. Alexia had, with our help, changed the old, weaker engine on this out for a 1000 horsepower, turbocharged diesel engine from a big rig truck. Now with a rightful reason to employ every bit of the massive torque and power of the engine, our fortress lurches as it rolls to the front at over twice it's normal top speed.

"Hopefully we can arrive in time to save the Super Pershings and not have this match be a disaster."

**{Felicita}**

I groan and rub my temple as I take in the news about our Panzer IIs failed attack on the T95. It seems they were not as dull minded as the rest of their forces we had seen so far.

"So you are both out of action I take it?"

"No… We tactically poked holes into our hulls and put up a fake white flag, yes we're out of action!"

"How the…. Did you both attack at it at the same time from different angles?"

"Er… um… hey I never said I was good at hunting Super Heavies okay?"

"Then why did you volunteer for it?!" I snap.

"Ooo! Oh no… they're er… jamming the frequency with their American stuff-" The voice on Eureka's end suddenly cuts out. I sigh and switch the channel, not even bothering to try and reestablish communication with Eureka, instead hailing Yuki.

"Please tell me you are having more success on your end."

**[Yuki]**

"Everything is going smoothly, Gustavus dear," I reply as we lure one of the T-29s into a small courtyard. "The elephant is in the tarpit." I grin and hang up, looking over at Hikari.

"Did that sound cool or corny?"

"From someone more manly, it might have been cool." Hikari smirked.

"Yuki couldn't be cool if he stood in a freezer." Yunko laughs. "He's always been dorky."

I roll my eyes at Yunko as she easily evades another poorly aimed shot by the T-29. A bit of clever maneuvering had helped to separate the two steel beasts, and their wild shooting had assisted us by creating piles of rubble that often impeded or immobilized one or more of them.

"Hikari, take out their tracks, we don't want em going anywhere."

"Considering how big they are, it should be easy." She aims the gun and fires, sending bits of tread flying off of the enemy heavy.

"Alright, Yunko, try to stay out of their sights," I order, now sounding quite confident that we had them right in our grasp. "I doubt they can hit us even if we sat still but better to be on the safe side."

We circle around the massive heavy with ease, the monstrously armored, shiny pink and glittery turret their own undoing. There was no way anything that heavy could traverse more than a few degrees per second. I see their commander pop out of the hatch and she starts to rant at us, though only a few choice words come through, I get the impression she is being pretty bitchy right now.

"She sounds quite rude," I remark, then I grin as I get an idea. "Hey Hikari, wanna knock her off her pillar before we finish her?"

"Literally." She smirks. She starts firing HE rounds at the tank, stripping off or blackening the gaudy paint. I chuckle and pat her on the shoulder.

"Glad to know we're on the same page," I peek out of my cupola at their commander, whose whole head looks bright red like in a cartoon.

"I think her head might explode at this rate," I chuckle, "She sure looks pissed."

"Wish I could see it!" Yunko laughs as she keeps our tank out of the T29's line of fire.

"I'm sure we'll hear about it when the match is over," Hikari cackles. She looks delighted. It doesn't take her long before the once dazzling eyesore of a heavy tank is coated in bare, charred steel. It was satisfying. We have not only humiliated their bratty commander- I don't know her, but anyone who would bedazzle a tank could only be a brat- and restored the poor machine to a somewhat dignified color.

"Alright, now let's put em out of their misery. Go ahead and savor the shot."

"I'll savor our victory" Hikari shouts. She then takes the time to carefully aim her shot as Yunko stops the tank to giver her better aim and Hikari plants a shot right between the roadwheels. The explosion is small but it is a successful penetration, and their white flag springs up.

"We got em!" I give Hikari a resounding high five, picking up the radio to broadcast to the team. "One down! One to go!" I give lean against the side of the turret affectionately. This old girl still had lots of fight in her.

"Then point me to it, so we can kill them too!" Yunko shouts excitedly.

"We're running low on HE ammo though" Hikari smirks.

"We have plenty of AP and MG ammo left," I chuckle, "Enough to make their empty heads explode I think."

"Well it's not like they're using 'em anyway. Let's go find 'em."

We take the BT-7 out of the courtyard and began prowling the streets for our second elephant. It doesn't take long, we find the bedazzled behemoth near the bridge. The one they first started out on. Were they retreating or something?

"Yunko, close the gap with them and Hikari, prepare to-" I' cut off by the blast of their main gun. Looks like they had seen us.

"This is it! Let's finish these airheads!"

Yunko maneuvers us in close as Hikari tries to get a shot off, but surprisingly this T-29 is actually maneuvering to counter, trying to keep us from getting a flat shot at their tracks and trying to widen the gap between us to bring their elephant gun of a cannon to bear.

"For bimbos, they actually have something that resembles learning," I remark.

"So what's the plan?" Hikari asks.

"We get in close and shoot them!" Yunko yells, driving in close to the heavy. "Let's sting em!"

Easier said then done. Their counter maneuvering is better than we anticipated and it is actually taking us effort to stay on them. They fire wildly at us, not caring whether or not they actually had a shot at us. The hard line maneuvering is slowly dragging us closer and closer to the bridge, and before I realize it we're fighting atop that infamous bridge. Part of me is exhilarated. A David versus Goliath matchup on a bridge so legendary in the lore of WW2 history, it's a wet dream come true! I have to keep my head in the game though, I can't let my euphoria foil me. I go back into my serious state, and I observe how the battle progresses as I give commands.

The T-29's sporadic firing continues, but now it adds another, more hazardous element to the fight. They're hitting the supports and surface of the bridge, and with each hit the the structure the bridge shudders a little more on each impact. Our attempts to shoot them and put them out of action only seem to infuriate them more, making their gunfire more dangerously erratic.

We fight our hardest to get a clear shot at one of their weak points, but it just isn't happening. Hikari is more than a little frustrated and it's wearing on Yunko as well. By now, the bridge wobbles like it's made of jello every time they fire.

"Those shitheads are gonna drop us in the river!" I cry, and I see the concrete in the middle rupture. "Okay, that's it, Yunko, get us out of here!"

Yunko wheels the tank around and begins to accelerate out of there, but just as we're almost off, disaster strikes. The T-29s main gun lets off a final shot as the bridge crumples and its crew begins to evacuate. That final shot ricochets off one of the supports and deflects directly into our engine deck, putting us out. I sit there almost paralyzed as it sinks in what is going to become of my BT-7.

"Yuki, we have to get out!" Hikari yells. "Yunko the bridge is collapsing! Evacuate!"

"We can't just leave Ghibli!" I cry, "She's one of us too!"

"Yuki, this isn't a discussion!" Hikari yells. She grabs me and starts trying to pull me through the hatch. "We'll die if we don't go!"

I know it's not the most dignified way to leave your tank, but as I was, I could barely move and Hikari had to drag me out and across the short distance left on the span. I shake my head as I watch the bridge collapse inwards and fall into the river, taking my beloved BT-7 down with it. I collapse to my knees right there, words totally escaping me.

"Don't worry Yuki. We can always drag it out again." Yunko says. "I mean, it's not like we don't know where it is."

I blink a few times as I sort of come out of my shock, letting out a sigh, "B-but… but it… it might get washed away."

Hikari puts a hand on my shoulder. "Come on, the river's not moving nearly fast enough to wash away a 14 ton tank. Finding it might be a tad tricky but it shouldn't be too hard. Don't worry."

"Yeah… Someone text Felicita that our tank and their T-29 are at the bottom of the Rhine."


End file.
